According to a press release issued earlier this morning, Haywood County officials are currently involved in the rescue of more than a hundred dogs from a property on Terrace Drive in Canton.

“My understanding is that animal services received an animal welfare concern report, which then allowed them to look at the property,” said Haywood County Program Administrator Dona Stewart. “Doyle [Teague, Haywood County animal services director] has worked with the owners and we were able to achieve a voluntary surrender.”

 The press release issued by Teague at 10:30 a.m. said that approximately 55 small breed dogs – Chihuahuas, dachshunds and the like – were living with their owners in a single-wide mobile home on the half-acre property, but dozens of larger dogs were being kept in kennels, a camping trailer and on chains around the property.

Currently, the animals are being housed at a makeshift shelter located in the former Lea Industries building in Hazelwood. 

Hollie Burris, office manager at the Haywood County Animal Shelter said that volunteers were cataloging demographic information about each dog, vaccinating them and would crate them for 72 hours per state law.

Soon, Stewart said, Teague would formulate a plan of action on what to do with them after that.

“When we found out we needed to create a temporary shelter that met all of the state guidelines, we started to reach out to owners of buildings that would meet the need, and we were very very fortunate that this businessman was willing to grant us a lease gave us on incredibly favorable terms,” Stewart said.  

The lease was signed by the county last night.

“He’s just a really good member of the community who wanted to do something to help out,” she said of the building’s owner. “We have a very active animal rescue community in Haywood County.”

Indeed, volunteers from Sarge’s animal shelter were on hand to assist with intake, but volunteers had also come from outside the county as well.

Michael Mustin is the medical director for the Asheville Humane Society. He said he’d been a part of four other large-scale rescues like this one.  

“I got a call last night saying they were bringing in about a hundred animals, so I just came out to help,” he said.

There was no word on what the owners will be charged with, if anything, but this situation is developing rapidly as of early Saturday afternoon. Check back for updates as they become available.