MERCER COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — In August, a Mercer County drug bust led to the discovery of dozens of dogs living in a Harrodsburg home.
An officer wrote in the police citation that the dogs were “mistreated, malnourished, and did not have proper living conditions.”
Police first arrested Gabriella Follmer and Kenneth Brawner on drug and animal cruelty-related charges. Later, another woman living in the home, Amanda Coontz, was also charged, along with the homeowner, Karen Aubrey.
Aubrey served as the Mercer County Humane Society’s president but resigned shortly after the initial arrests were made in the animal cruelty case.
On the day of the drug bust, Mercer County Animal Control confiscated 29 dogs from the Harrodsburg home, nine of which belonged to the Mercer Humane Society.
According to the Humane Society board, Aubrey had been housing the dogs in a private dog kennel at her home.
Despite a police report citing the dogs as badly injured and hungry, the Mercer Humane Society told LEX 18 that the Humane Society dogs were taken to special events like Bark in the Park and were “happy, clean, and in excellent condition.”
After Mercer County Animal Control took the dogs, many were sent to fosters and a local shelter. However, several are still being housed at Animal Control and have yet to be adopted.
Mercer County Animal Control director Wendy Quiggle saw the dogs’ living conditions firsthand when police called her to the scene in August.
“It's wonderful that she took in these animals and, like all of us, we care deeply about their welfare, but at what point does it not become quality of life?” Quiggle said.
Now, Mercer County Animal Control is struggling to accept strays and dogs from other court cases, as they hold onto the dogs from August. In any other scenario, Animal Control would likely call on the Humane Society to help.
“Animal control is a short term, very short term holding facility,” explained Quiggle. “We are not meant to hold onto animals for months on end, because like we have now, we can't take in any stray animals if we get them because we have no room. So, I’m stuck.”
As a final plea to the community, Quiggle said, “Please come and adopt, don't shop anywhere else, give one of our shelter dogs a chance, they do work out to be great dogs.”