That is sad
I have heard from a lot of people that ticks are horrible this year. I have never had a tick on any of my dogs until I brought Lola to the groomer a couple of weeks ago and they found one on her head
. I felt terrible because I had no idea it was there because her hair was so long and it was just burried. I don't think anyone would purposely leave a tick on their dog, maybe this person just didn't know how to remove one, and when they became overwhelmed with ticks, he/she knew they had to just surrender them. I don't want to automatically think the worst of them since they did at least bring them somewhere. The fact that they didn't drop them off at the pound tells me that they must care a little since they might have thought that they would be put down there. Just because a pet owner is ignorant doesn't make them a bad person.
I hope that you can help them by calling a rescue or someone else that can help them.