One of the great modern conveniences is being able to order groceries and have them delivered to your door. Delivery men and women often see snippets of other people’s lives as they drop off those orders, but one particular delivery resulted in the rescue of over 20 animals.
Kristen Carter was making a grocery delivery to a house in Kingsland, Texas, when she saw a heartbreaking sight.
She’d made deliveries to the area before and had heard lots of barking, but on Saturday she finally saw one of the dogs out in front of the house, and it was nothing but skin and bones.
“When I had pulled up and I got out, I was just like, oh my God,” she told KTBC-TV. “There was a bag of rotten potatoes next to the stairs that he was just trying to rip open and eat at.”
Torn up over the discovery, Carter took photos of the dog and posted them on Facebook.
“I just delivered to this house,” Carter’s post read. “And found this poor baby. They came out and called him blue. Sounded like they have 20 dogs inside. I’m about to lose my s***.”
Later, she went back to the house to confront the owner and asked to take the dog to find him a new home. However, the owner refused to hand the dog over. She then posted a video of that encounter on social media.
The post gained a lot of traction, and soon people were calling the local sheriff’s office, animal control and any other agency that might help.
Since it was a holiday weekend, not many places were open, but on Sunday law enforcement showed up and seized 18 dogs and five cats.
The Hill Country Humane Society sent out a desperate plea for help. Already at capacity, the shelter is desperate for fosters to take dogs already in their care so they can focus on rehabilitating the emaciated, sickly dogs.
“We are happy to update that all of the emaciated dogs that were seized yesterday made it through the night,” the shelter shared on Monday. “They are not out of the woods yet, but they are all being fed small, frequent meals & have all been treated for fleas. (They were VERY flea infested!)
“They are pretty skittish and lack socialization, but have already begun to warm up to staff. It’s amazing what just a little bit of love, patience, food, and puppy/baby talk can do to convince these dogs that they are in a safe place now. These dogs have a ways to go before they can be fostered. But, we still desperately need fosters for our healthy shelter dogs so that we can give these guys the space they need.
“We cannot thank this community enough for stepping up to help us through this situation. The outpouring of support has been overwhelming. Please continue to spread the word that we need fosters and/or adoptions immediately so that we are able to continue to provide care for all of the dogs being brought to our facility.
“Also, we want to thank the City of Burnet, Burnet County Sheriff’s Office, Llano Animal Control, and the Llano County Sheriff’s Office for all of their hard work and help getting these dogs out of the conditions they were living in. These guys all stepped in on their days off to rescue these dogs & help find spaces for them after receiving a call from a Good Samaritan.”
While Carter is relieved that these poor dogs are now in better hands, she is saddened that conditions got as bad as they did.
“This should have been taken care of a long time ago,” she said.
