TYLER, Texas — CBS19 was in Hawkins on Wednesday when more than 30 dogs were safely rescued from a residence and taken to area shelters.
On Monday, Hawkins Police Department Chief Manfred Gilow posted to Facebook asking the East Texas community for help in finding new homes for 45 dogs living in a man's home on Fourth Street. According to city ordinance, you can only have four dogs per a household inside the city limits.
"We were notified that a man had several dogs in the home, so I called him up and asked and he told me he only had 18 dogs," Chief Gilow said in an exclusive interview with CBS19. "I said well, you're only allowed to have four."
Chief Gilow allowed the resident to use the city's closed animal shelter for five weeks, but told him all of the dogs had to be out by noon on Thursday.
"So, we have a lot of organizations now coming and helping and it looks like we'll get every single dog rescued, we do not have to put any down," said Chief Gilow.
When CBS19 was notified of the post by Chief Gilow, our team reached out to Deborah Dobbs and the SPCA of East Texas to see if the organization could help.
Dobbs and her team made the trip out to Hawkins to assist in finding new homes for the dogs.
"The hoarding in east Texas is out of control," said Dobbs. "The spay and neuter requirements are regretfully a little underfunded."
The dogs that were removed by the SPCA of East Texas will be screened by veterinarians on Thursday and will be available for adoption as soon as they are cleared of any diseases or parasites.
The SPCA recommends spaying and neutering your pets and even offers low-cost services. For more information, you can head to their website.