CORYDON, Ind. (WDRB) -- A southern Indiana animal shelter is drying out after a sewage leak forced dozens of animals to be displaced.
For much of Tuesday, employees at Harrison County Animal Control spent the day sanitizing and cleaning more than two dozen kennels after raw sewage flooded overnight.
The lobby of the shelter was packed — and stacked — with dogs that are now out of an uncomfortable, wet situation. Late Monday night, pipes broke, causing sewage to back up from the drains into the dog kennels, much of it caught on surveillance.
Some kennels had 4 inches of standing sewage, causing the dogs to stand on their own beds get out of the rising water.
“We just recently had work done on our septic tank, so we knew it probably had something to do with that,” Shelter Director April Breeden said.
The dogs were removed, given baths and placed in crates and cages in the front lobby as kennels were cleaned and disinfected.
One by one, the dogs were lead — or carried — out of the shelter to a waiting Kentucky Humane Society vehicle. Many were scared, but they were dry.
“We got our van out here as quickly as we could to come pull some of their animals from them,” said Megan Decker of the Kentucky Humane Society. “When a situation like that happens, often animals don’t know how to respond to it due to the fact they can’t flee and they can’t really fight it either. They’re kind of stuck in these areas.”
Eleven animals were taken to the Kentucky Humane Society and will be adopted out from there.
The flooding the latest hiccup for Harrison County Animal Control a year of misconduct allegations and a staff overhaul. A new director and employees are now in place and said they're dedicated to improve the shelter.
“We definitely couldn’t have done this without any of our residue partners, because it’s definitely a big job today,” Breeden said.
Last-minute donations gave the 23 animals a temporary home until they can head back into their kennels.
“Lucas Oil brought some crates in for us today, because we didn’t have enough," Breeden said. "So we just really appreciate our community and then stepping up in our time of need."
Harrison County Animal Control will remain closed Wednesday but will resume their animal surrenders and adoptions Thursday.
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