Animal Welfare, Shelter & Rescue 
No Comments Overcrowded, Dog-Importing Kansas Rescue Ordered to Surrender License
On Wednesday, after a string of failed health inspections, overcrowding, and substandard animal care, the Kansas Department of Agriculture (KDA) ordered Unleashed Pet Rescue, a Kansas pet shelter, to surrender its rescue license. Many of the shelter’s failures appear tied to simple math: too many dogs = too little care. So, it’s no wonder that the city broke its partnership with Unleashed Pet Rescue last week, or that KDA ordered the shelter to stop taking in animals on Monday.
The shelter’s issues have been percolating for some time – long enough to cause a local TV station to launch an investigation last January. This is the same shelter that imported 26 dogs from Egypt in 2019 – a shipment that included a rabies-positive dog, and another dog that escaped, which led to quarantines and 44 people taking rabies postexposure prophylaxis.
And despite its revenue of $2.3 million in 2020, it appears that Unleashed Pet Rescue did not provide basic animal care. In any case, it sounds like the KDA made the right call here.
Resources
★ State agency investigates Kansas City-area animal shelter after complaints
★ CDC Extends Suspension of Dog Imports from Countries with High Rabies Prevalence
