CHARTIERS HOUSTON, Pa. — The owner of a Washington County shelter is in trouble after an inspection by dog wardens, but those who volunteer at the shelter are defending the conditions there.
Volunteers at Angel Ridge Animal Shelter in Chartiers Houston donate hours every day to help take care of dogs that are waiting for a good home.
Currently, the shelter has 25 dogs up for adoption, in addition to taking care of cats and horses.
However, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s dog wardens this week served the shelter with more than a dozen citations for unsanitary conditions.
The department said three dog wardens inspected the shelter Jan. 9 when 21 dogs were on the premises.
At that time, the wardens cited the place for the following:
- Failure to keep the kennel in sanitary and humane condition
- Cold temperatures, stating the kennel was 32 degrees with no additional measures taken to help preserve body heat of dogs
- Infestation of birds, leading to the contamination of food and water bowls with bird waste
- Failure to keep proper kennel records, stating 24 dogs were brought into the kennel from out-of-state without health certificates
The shelter’s owner, who called Channel 11 from South Carolina Thursday, said she has proper documentation for all of the dogs and looks forward to providing it to the authorities.
She also added that the shelter’s pipes froze and contractors were on the property fixing the problem when the dog wardens arrived to conduct the inspection.
Volunteers told Channel 11 that the conditions at the shelter that day did not represent what they do 365 days a year.
WPXI
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