30 English Mastiffs Rescued From Hoarder Who Made Them Breed Continuously

Arizona Mastiff Rescue, a group focused on rescuing giant breeds, recently rescued over 30 English Mastiffs from a hoarder’s house. According to the rescue, the hoarder, an 80-year-old man, had been breeding the dogs nonstop.

The rescue’s president, Darlene Spencer, disclosed that the hoarder relayed on the dogs as his major source of living. “He had multiple dogs in broken-down vehicles on his property and living on chains,” she said.

Rescues and shelters are battling capacity issues due to a decrease in pet adoption rates and an increase in pet intakes. Different groups have been coming out to urge people interested in getting pets to adopt from shelters, not breeders, to alleviate shelters’ capacity issues.

Sharing her thoughts on worsening shelter capacity issues, Spencer said many people wanted dogs pre-COVID and during COVID, so some people saw it as an opportunity to make lots of money through breeding. Such people often have no regard for the well-being of dogs and cause them to live in horrible conditions.

Sadly, many people who welcomed dogs into their homes during the pandemic have surrendered them to shelters because they can’t take care of them anymore or don’t want them. This development further worsens the overcrowding issues shelters are facing.

Spencer says if only people could stop breeding for at least two years, it would lessen its negative impact on dogs and shelters.