By
KELLY WOLFE
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Monday, April 21, 2008
Their little faces — even matted, swollen and dirty — were just too cute.
So phones at Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control have been flooded, days after 36 Yorkshire terriers were discovered Friday living in filth in a Jupiter apartment.
Tomorrow, the shelter will roll out a "Yorkie Hotline" for people who want to adopt the dogs.
Animal Control Director Dianne Sauve said the dogs will have to be spayed and neutered before they can be adopted later this week. But the Yorkies won't be handed out to just anyone, she said. They will go through what is called a Special Needs Adoption.
"We're going to be very careful about who takes these dogs," she said.
Sauve said, in animal hoarding cases like this one, the dogs aren't always house-trained or socialized. Plus, these Yorkies are inbred.
The woman who owned the dogs, Shawn O'Connor, was taken into custody under the state Baker Act on Friday. The act allows a person to be taken to a medical facility for psychiatric evaluation for up to 72 hours if he poses a threat to himself or others.
Sauve said the dogs were so dirty upon their arrival, they weren't even allowed in the shelter until they were bathed.
Sauve said she was glad for the enthusiasm, but wanted to remind people that thousands of other animals at the shelter need a home, too.
"Please consider taking an animal no one wants," she said.
There are some photos at the newsite.
Animal shelter swamped with callers wanting to adopt Yorkies