A local man said that he is running a shelter for stray dogs, but animal cruelty investigators in Ashtabula County believe the man's home is filled with disease and starvation. A news reporter on the scene and said that it's one of those places that leaves you feeling dirty, even if you haven't touched anything.
"If a dog goes to the toilet here, and they're not supposed to. They're supposed to go on the papers...I hit it with a mop. It's crude, but it works," said Gary Shaffer.
WEWS said that the bleach doesn't work well enough because the house has a stench. Plus, it's overrun with mangy little dogs. Shaffer has 37 dogs, but he believes that they are all well cared for. The Ashtabula County Humane Society wants the dogs removed.
Shaffer said that he will fight any attempt by officials to seize his dogs.
"This is heaven for them," he said. "They're playing ball ... love it ... and they don't have mange and they love it here."
"We did have a licensed veterinarian here yesterday and her visual inspection, without actually doing test, was that they had mange," Lisa Stanton, of the human society, said.
Stanton said that she would like to find a way to save as many of the dogs as possible, but she really believes most of the dogs should be put down.
Shaffer said he has been taking in strays for about 20 years, and while some of the dogs may have fleas, he insists that they are happy.
"Did you see that dog right there wag its tail?" he said, pointing at a dog. "That dog wants to play ball. It's the elephant man thing. Looks are deceiving. That's not what you judge suffering by." Neighborhood MapFor more information about the Interactive Animal Cruelty Maps, see the map notes.
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