The owners of a Buxton kennel raided by authorities have filed an appeal to a judge’s decision to grant custody of the dogs to the state.
While the appeal does prevent the state from making the dogs available for adoption, it does not mean they can’t be moved from Buxton to new quarters.
“We’re taking it further,” Heidi Frasca said Tuesday. “This isn’t going away.” Frasca and her husband, John, own J’aime Kennel, where 249 dogs and puppies were seized in a raid in August.
The Frascas, who have been unable to obtain an attorney, filed the appeal themselves.
Biddeford District Court granted the state custody on Sept. 26. The state has rented space from Happy Tails Dog Daycare in Portland to relocate the animals, many of which are still being treated at the kennel.
The director of the state’s Animal Welfare Program, Norma Worley, said the cost to care for the animals had risen to $150,000.
Worley said Tuesday “there’s no definite day yet” when the animals will be moved.
The state’s seizure of the animals was the largest ever in Maine. The Frascas were issued 14 summonses for an unlicensed kennel, two summonses for animal cruelty and one summons for failure to provide necessary medical treatment to animals. The court date for the summonses is in November.
About 180 dogs are at the Paucek Road kennel this week. Some of the dogs and puppies are being cared for at the Animal Refuge League in Westbrook and the Animal Welfare Society in Kennebunk.
Worley said many dogs are still receiving medical treatment at the kennel. Worley estimated 24 dogs have been diagnosed with sarcoptic mange and about 36 with giardia. She said the state is being cautious not to introduce diseases to the new shelter in Portland.
Local animal welfare workers and volunteers have been augmented with staff from the Humane Society of the United States and the American Humane Association, which moved an 82-foot mobile veterinary clinic to Buxton Sept. 30.
Debrah Schnackenberg, director of animal emergency services for American Humane Association, said the rig was requested by Worley. The brand-new rig is equipped with animal control equipment, oxygen, surgical equipment and space for veterinarians to perform surgery.
“We have a mobile vet clinic inside,” Schnackenberg said from national headquarters in Denver, Colo.
Schnackenberg said the American Humane Association had two staff and 11 volunteers on duty at the rig Wednesday in Buxton. She said plans call for the rig to be in Maine until Oct. 28.
The rig has been stationed in the parking lot at Buxton Police Department because the kennel site is private property. Schnackenberg said the rig would be relocated when the dogs are moved to another site.
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