Animal control removes 129 dogs from Fairfield home

[Faith]

good god -


(Fairfield-WTNH/AP, July 27, 2006 Updated 10:30 PM)_

One by one dogs found living in filth have been taken out of a Fairfield home. 129 dogs were found in all, so many that animal control officers from surrounding towns had to be called in to help.

It was the noise and the smell that was getting to Eastfield Drive neighbors like Jeff Wargo.

"Keeping you awake, you can't open the windows in the house. I think any normal person would complain," he said.

So neighbors did complain - 46 times - to the Fairfield police, but nothing ever happened.

"They were never allowed into the house up until this point, so they've done various visual inspections and whatever inspections they could, and they did not determine that the conditions were that bad up to this point," Lt. Dan Gombos, Fairfield Police Department, said.

But this morning police came with a search warrant and found cage after cage with multiple dogs inside.

"Other cages had numerous puppies living in their own feces," Lt. Gombos said.

"There may be some crowding to a slight degree, but nothing that would violate any kennel standards," says Martin Lopow from Companions for Life, the group that 'rescued' these dogs from shelters in the south.

The leader of the group is Robin D'Urso, who owns this house. A neighbor caught her on video being arrested this morning for animal cruelty.

"I just want to make absolutely clear that Mrs. D'Urso is a very responsible, caring individual as far as animal welfare is concerned," Lopow said.

Animal control departments from at least six surrounding communities were called to assist with removing the animals.

D'Urso was charged with 14 counts of animal cruelty. She was released on a promise to appear in Bridgeport Superior Court on August eighth.

[RoughCollies]

"I just want to make absolutely clear that Mrs. D'Urso is a very responsible, caring individual as far as animal welfare is concerned," Lopow said.

OMG... yeah, sounds like it. That's is so sad and wrong.

[Faith]

the companions for life rescue group does come up in petfinder, with a bunch of dogs listed.

[Dax]

Am I reading this right??? A group rescued these dogs from other locations then put them into a single house in cages? The group still supports the person who had the dogs?

I would have thought that rescues MUST comply with any and all requests to tour the facilities. Why were the dogs not being fostered or adopted out?

[Faith]

you are reading that right - and i can't understand either.

obviously, she knew she was in the wrong when she wouldn't let police come on to her property. and, how someone else from the "rescue" group still claims that she's a caring person is beyond me.

if you look at their petfinder page, it looks like she gets the dogs out of shelters in Virginia.

[pung-yo]

Dax, some people who do rescues don't necessarily follow the rules. Some breed the dogs in their care. In some places the follow ups are very lax.

I can just see this lady as a caring person, yeah sure.

[Dogs of Romance]

Pung...The lady (i use this term lightly) who runs The Toronto German Shepherd Rescue breeds the rescues...she even bred a bitch with eplepsy that was rescued. She wont rescue a dog from shelters, she will only "rescue" a dog if it is donated to her.

[Vallencia28]

That story makes me mad and want to cry . It is just so heart breaking to hear about people doing things like this to helpless animals.

[pung-yo]

Well Valencia, I know how sad it is, but facts are facts, I would love to wring their necks but that would get me in trouble. I guess we just have to do what we can and cry for the rest.

[pung-yo]

Originally Posted by Dogs of Romance

Pung...The lady (i use this term lightly) who runs The Toronto German Shepherd Rescue breeds the rescues...she even bred a bitch with eplepsy that was rescued. She wont rescue a dog from shelters, she will only "rescue" a dog if it is donated to her.

Glad you used the term lightly, I have a better name in mind LOL. I had heard something about this but we never found out what the real story was, thanks for filling me in. I must have somehow rescued the one with epilepsy cause we had taken a rescue"purebred German Shepherd" who almost did me in. We spent thousands on that dog because we fell in love with her, but she had 4 different kinds of seizures, had been electrocuted which we weren't aware of till our vet found she was burned down to her esophageous, would go off like a gun and attack without being aware, no training helped her, she even attacked me one day while I brushed her. We were finally told by a vet in Boston that she also had cancer and should be put down. that was the only time we saw her laying peacefully. Talk about swearing at that back yard breder.
Last winter I was sent an ad by a friend, telling about a rescue worker breeding a black lab and doberman who was selling the pups.