Update on dogs removed from IOW farm

UNDATED, Va. - WAVY.com sat down with dozens of foster families taking care of Golden Retrievers rescued from a farm in Isle of Wight County. 

The dogs rescued by Southeastern Virginia Golden Retriever Rescue, Education, and Training, Inc. (also known as SEVA GRREAT) are slowly improving, but officials tell WAVY.com two dogs passed away just days ago because they weren't taken care of properly on the Hansford family farm.

Now Golden Retriever foster families want to make sure that number stops at two.

Inside Cooke Veterinary Medical Center in Chesapeake Tuesday night, more than a dozen Golden Retrievers have a story to tell.  Here is a brief story of Crystal, one of the Golden Retrievers rescued from the Isle of Wight Farm.

"Crystal spent a lot of time trying to get out of her crate and she has severe dental disease. She's lost most of her teeth and you can see here that she has an abscess on the front of her mouth," says Sarah Muehls, one of SEVA GRREAT's foster moms.

The story of each dog is different, like Belle's story.  Belle is a 5 year-old Golden Retriever.

"Like many of our fosters she is heartworm positive. All of our dogs from Isle of Wight are very undersocialized and they are terrified to be around people so a lot of times they won't even walk on a leash," says Muehls. "Some of us have had to carry the fosters around to take them outside to go to the bathroom because they just are too frightened to walk on their own."

All of their stories are heartbreaking, like Hope's story.

"She has missing toes and she's missing part of her tail due to frostbite because she was out in the elements."

"They're so loving and so sweet that I couldn't imagine that that was happening so close to home especially," says Sarah Picking, another foster mom with SEVA GRREAT.

Picking's foster, Henry, is one of 30 Goldens the organization rescued, and like his siblings, he was very frightened of people.

"It was actually a little hard to connect with him at first. He was so frightened of us. Approaching Henry, walking towards him, he would run, he would bolt, he would try and hide, but he's actually made amazing progress," says Picking.

"He's young. He hasn't had a lot of time in those conditions to suffer as much as some of the other ones."

Like Belle, the Golden Retriever with heart worms and possible mites on her face.

"She's very malnourished. She lacks a lot of muscle, because she has laid down practically her entire life. She was used for breeding," says Muehls.

Muehls is Belle's foster mom.  She is outraged these dogs lived in such shocking conditions.

"Many people call it a backyard breeder. Some people refer to it as a puppy mill. I'm not sure what you call it, but whatever it is, it's horrible."

WAVY.com spoke with Isle of Wight Sheriff Charlie Phelps about the investigation into farmowners Jeff and Diana Hansford. He says, "We are concentrating on Animal Cruelty charges and if we discover there was a puppy mill then that's a different situation. All possible charges appear to be misdemeanors not felonies."

That news stuns the foster families who just said goodbye to one of their dogs.

"This dog had a cantaloupe sized mammary tumor at the back of her mammary chain near her back legs and on Saturday I thought that it might rupture at any point and I was worried that it had already spread to her lungs," says Dr. Erica Feiste of Cooke Veterinary Medical Center in Chesapeake.  "It turns out that's probably what happened.  She went into respiratory distress and she did pass away on Sunday."

That death is something Feiste says could have been prevented with proper veterinary care.

Since their rescue, the Goldens can be saved from a tragic ending. They now have a chance to grow up happy and healthy.

"I think SEVA GRREAT does a great job as a rescue of going above and beyond to take care of their dogs.  They'll do things that the dogs need no matter how much it costs, but unfortunately there's a financial repercussion with that as well and so I know that they need help," says Feiste.

"They all get vaccines, micro-chips, and a complete physical exam with an intestinal parasite exam and a heart worm test when they come to us," continues Feiste.  " Please don't get yourself in a situation like this. Spaying or neutering your pet is the most responsible thing you can do."

SEVA GRREAT is a non-profit organization.  Officials say caring for these dogs costs an estimated $500 per dog.

If you'd like to help them give these dogs the care they need, you can mail monetary donations to:

SEVA GRREAT
P.O. Box 8014
Yorktown, VA 23693

On your Check Memo write: Isle of Wight Dogs

Count on WAVY.com and WAVY News 10 to continue investigating developments in this story.