Ephraim, Utah Dog Cruelty Case

SALT LAKE CITY - Feb. 26, 2015 - PRLog -- Ephraim, UT, February 26, 2015– Rescue Rovers and Wag-N-Train Dog Rescue are searching for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for shooting in the head, twice, a female chocolate lab who had recently given birth to a litter of puppies.  She was left for dead in the foothills of Sanpete County.

“This innocent dog did not deserve to be treated like trash and left to die – luckily a passerby found her in time. We are grateful to Wag-N-Train Rescue and Payson Family Pet Hospital for taking immediate action to save Karma’s life.” – Debbie Welder, Board of Directors, Rescue Rovers Dog Adoptions

Getting the serious attention of law enforcement, prosecutors and the community in cases involving allegations of cruelty to animals is an essential step in protecting the community. The connection between animal cruelty and human violence is well documented. Studies show a correlation between animal cruelty and all manner of other crimes, from narcotics and firearms violations to battery and sexual assault.

“Karma was rushed into surgery where the vet discovered one bullet had lodged in her skull and was unable to remove it.  She will most likely lose all vision in her right eye.  The day following surgery Karma had a violent seizure and her temperature spiked very high. After an hour the seizure had stopped and her temperature started coming down. Karma is making progress. She can sit up, and seems to be steady. She can even walk a short way. When she walks, she has a little bit of an odd gait...kind of lists to the right. This may or may not improve. It will take time to tell just how fully she will recover. She may have some permanent issues (her gait, her sight), but she is such a very lucky girl just to be alive, and hopefully the issues won't prevent her from getting a wonderful forever family.” –Jamee Wheelwright, Wag-N-Train Dog Rescue

Rescue Rovers, a 501c3 non-profit organization, started in November, 2012 as an all-volunteer group arranging transportation from high kill shelters to partner rescues in the Intermountain West. Our mission was to pool resources to maximize the number of dogs saved when a volunteer went to "pull" a dog from the shelter.  We believed if we had an empty seat in the car, a kennel could go there and we could save more lives. Indeed, our promise that "Together, we can do MORE" helped us travel 135,000 miles with volunteer drivers in our first year alone.

In February, 2013, several of our group leaders who had been with other rescue groups banded together to found our Adoptions group.  Since that time, hundreds MORE dogs are getting out of shelters and finding furever homes through adoption.

Wag-N-Train, Inc., is an all-breed dog rescue located in Central Utah. We are a non-profit corporation run exclusively by volunteers. We are committed to reducing the numbers of homeless and unwanted dogs and to reducing the incidents of euthanasia of healthy, adoptable dogs by placing abandoned and homeless dogs into caring, responsible homes.