Nearly 30 dogs abandoned in Pittsburgh-area junkyard, rescuers say

More than two dozen dogs were rescued from a junkyard in Westmoreland County this week.

State police said 28 dogs were found at ABC Auto Wreckers on Mount Thor Road in Greensburg. The owners said they called police after they discovered someone had broken in early Monday morning and dumped the dogs. 

Multiple rescue agencies, including All But Furgotten, No Dog Left Behind and the ANNA Shelter in Erie, were called in to bring the dogs to safety. All But Furgotten described the dogs as "terrified" when they found them in a trailer in cages.

State police said they received a tip that the dogs were at the junkyard on Monday. Police said the dogs had been on one of the rescues' radar, apparently being housed prior to that at an unlicensed and illegal dog kennel.

"They had literally been abandoned in small crates and cages, no food, no water," said Ruth Thompson, the founder of the ANNA Shelter. "I know the temperatures down there in Pittsburgh were up into the 80s the day that they were found, so the dogs definitely needed to get out of there."

Thompson said half of the dogs were found to be malnourished when they arrived at the junkyard to rescue them.

"Half of the dogs were very thin, body condition scores of the one and two, and some were ideal weight," Thompson said. "A lot of them are blowing their coats. That's stress. They're all full of parasites."

Thompson said all the dogs found are Belgian Malinois and Dutch Shepherds.

"They are dogs that are used a lot of times by police departments, by the military, not really a breed just for anybody," Thompson said. "They can be borderline dangerous in the wrong hands, so he kind of cannot even remotely say he did the right thing. But better than turning them loose in like the state game lands or something, where something could have been pretty detrimental."

The rescue took two days. Thompson said all of the dogs were transported to their shelter in Erie for care.

"We're finding out some of them have some pretty cool history, and we're going to be looking to get them into the right homes," Thompson said. "They are bred for a purpose, and we're going to make sure that we honor that so that they're healthy and happy going forward."

The owners of ABC Auto Wreckers, where the dogs were abandoned, say they found them on their property early Monday morning. 

"We are the ones who saved these dogs' lives," the property owner said. 

The owner said their property was broken into around 5 a.m. 

"The animals were driven in in a big U-Haul and little trailer. We immediately called the state police to report it." 

So far, no arrests have been made, but according to state police, charges will be filed in the coming days.