Over 50 puppies rescued from Lorain County home, Friendship APL asks for donations to pay for medical bills

ELYRIA, Ohio (WOIO) - A Lorain County animal shelter is struggling to nurse dozens of very sick puppies back to health after rescuing them from a home in Columbia Station.

In his decade as the executive director for the Friendship Animal Protective League in Elyria, Gregory Willey says this is one of the most heartbreaking operations he has been a part of. “They didn’t have the strength to lift their heads up,” explained Willey. “They didn’t have the strength to carry on, so it was really really a difficult time.”

On Jan. 20, Lorain County humane officers executed a search warrant at a home in Colombia Station.

“On that premise, we found over 50 animals,” Willey said. “Many of which were very, very sick and ill. That night we rushed about 15 animals directly to emergency clinics for immediate emergency care.” D

During the first 12 hours, three of the puppies died. Then they lost another three.

“One by one by one over the next about five to seven days, these animals ended up going to various emergency clinics all over the place,” Willey said. “We actually filled four different vet clinics up throughout Northeast Ohio.”

A lot of the puppies were so sick with the parvovirus; they required plasma transfusions.

“These are extraordinarily expensive procedures to try to save these animals lives, and a lot of times on average, it costs about anywhere between $800-$1,500 upwards to $2,000 when you add all those extra things like plasma transfusions in, per animal,” explained Willey.

Willey says the puppy’s medical bills could exceed $40,000, that is why they are asking for your help to foot the pup’s medical bills.

The APL was granted custody of these puppies last week in lieu of requiring the people involved in this case to pay restitution, but the owners are still facing criminal charges and will be in court on Feb. 22.

Some of the puppies have already been adopted. Some still need more care, and two are in critical condition.

If you want to adopt one of these puppies, you can send an email to Gregory@friendshipapl.org. If you’d like to donate to the puppy’s medical bills, visit Facebook or the website.

Copyright 2021 WOIO. All rights reserved.