OVERTON, Texas (KETK) — An Overton resident said that more than 12 dogs on a property near her are showing signs of extreme neglect and malnourishment.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Overton resident, Shirley Kriesel.
Dozens of dogs are apparently being neglected to the point of starvation with some possibly feeding each other, she said.
“The bigger dog was eating like a white and spot-tan dog,” says Kriesel. “He was a puppy.”
Kriesel said she has been frantically trying to get help for the dogs in any way she can. She said it’s been going on for more than a year and added she couldn’t believe what she was witnessing.
“We thought it was going to be just one dog in distress, but it became more and more dogs,” she added.” There is a ton of them there. We lost count at 12.”
The house is along County Road 26 and Kriesel said she has no idea who lives at the residence.
She added that neighbors are aware of the situation but are scared because of potential retaliation.
“They come and go,” added Kriesel. “You’ll see their yard is like a junkyard.”
Kriesel said because of her TikTok community, they’ve been able to raise enough money to at least get them “some” food and water.
“They raised enough money and we brought food to the neighbor, and we brought food to that house, and we just dumped off 88 pounds and all of those dogs had it all consumed by yesterday,” said Kriesel.
Now, Kriesel said she will continue to go back to the residence and do what she can for the animals.
KETK News reached out to Smith County Animal Control, and they said the case is now under investigation after we alerted them to the situation.
