December 11, 200421 yr More at this link... FILLMORE COUNTY, Minn. — A Winona Area Humane Society volunteer pushed the barn door open and peered inside the dark interior. Broken glass and clumps of fur lay next to empty bowls and feces. It was repulsive enough to deter further exploration by rescuers Thursday afternoon on a farm in east central Fillmore County. Suspicion of neglected American Eskimo dogs convinced a Fillmore County judge to sign a search warrant. Winona Area Humane Society workers removed nine dogs — eight adults and one five-week-old puppy — from filthy structures two days earlier. They were the weakest of the 16 dogs. When they were taken back to Winona for care, some of the dogs left a layer of fleas floating in bathwater, volunteers said. "They had stuff impaled in their eyes," said humane society volunteer Deborah Stowe. She pointed to a small doghouse where one dog chewed holes through the floor. Stowe and four other humane society workers joined two Fillmore County Sheriff's Department officers Thursday to take away the remaining seven American Eskimos, mostly males. Volunteers approached two dogs with food and leashes. It took some coaxing, but warm intentions eventually won them over and they were safely stowed in portable crates. Cheryl Armstrong, Dede Olson, Judi Veronese, Tracy Morgan and Stowe walked around the barn to another small outbuilding, where five chain link kennels held five more dogs, frisky, barking and hungry. "It's padlocked. Get the cutters," Olson said. Chief Deputy Darrell Jensen and Lt. John O'Donnell watched as the determined volunteers found a back entrance to the kennels. One dog struggled with conflicting urges — backing away cautiously, approaching food in the hand. Morgan finally was able to pick it up. The dog, frozen in fear, did not struggle as Morgan took it to a crate. In a half-hour, all seven dogs were ready for transport to the Winona Veterinary Hospital in Goodview, away from the "puppy mill." "You don't get 15 adults of one breed together for any other reason," one volunteer said. No one lives on the farm, Jensen said. The owner, who lives in Missouri, instructed a local person to feed and water the dogs every other day but the volunteers and officers said the caretaker did not follow this schedule. They brought the puppies to my town to help them get better, and I am thinking about getting one...
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