Published: June 30, 2009 11:12 am      

Alleged 'dog farm' to close

By Randy Mitchell

Staff Writer



PONTOTOC COUNTY — For about the last year, residents who live along County Road 1560 east of the Lovelady community have complained about a farm with dozens of dogs allowed to roam the countryside freely.

Now the owner of the dogs, E.M. Wallis, is in a nursing home and authorities are left with the task of removing the canines, estimated to number anywhere from 80 to 120.

One neighbor — who wished to remain anonymous — said the dogs were a danger to motorists and would often travel the road in huge packs.

“They’re a nuisance,” the neighbor said in a telephone interview with an Ada Evening News reporter in 2008. “You can drive that road anytime of year and you’ll see numerous dead dogs along the sides, hit by cars.”

Sheriff John Christian said before going into the nursing home, Wallis made arrangements with a relative to take care of the dogs, but without enough funds the relative could not.

“We were contacted by a DHS (Department of Human Services) worker that she was placed in a nursing home and there was no one to take care of all these dogs out there,” Christian said. “Undersheriff Arnold Scott’s been working on it and he contacted the Humane Society.”

Christian said animal welfare officials are coming from Oklahoma City to take possession of the animals.

“We’ve gotten written permission from this elderly woman to take possession of the dogs,” Christian said. “The Humane Society is going to take care of them, get them gathered up, get them doctored and try to get them adopted out.”

Christian said Southern Proteins in Ada and PETCO in Oklahoma City have donated large amounts of dog food for the care of the animals until they are placed.

Undersheriff Scott said Sue Thompson with the Pontotoc Animal Welfare Society (P.A.W.S.) is helping to coordinate the rescue along with Cynthia Armstrong of the Humane Society. The dogs will go through P.A.W.S. for care before being placed for adoption.

Officials said the problem with the dogs began to get out of hand in 2008. As long as the owner kept the animals fed and healthy, there was nothing sheriff’s officials could do since she lived out in the county.

“We’ve had a lot of complaints from neighbors about (the dogs) being out in the road,” Christian said. “Sometimes there would be so many out in the road they would stop traffic.”