Dozens of Dogs Left Behind at ‘Rescue’ Warehouse in Utica

You can smell the urine and feces before you enter the building. It's just one sign of the nearly 60 dogs that have been left behind at a Broad Street warehouse.

Over the past few weeks, following the release of a video depicting the unsanitary conditions at a dog rescue operated by Kim Strong, there has been a great deal of discussion, debate, and misinformation spread on social media. Regardless of what you believe or what you've heard, there's one side we should all be on: the dogs'.

What we know is this: Kim Strong was working with a Long Island animal rescue known as 'Road To Home Rescue Support.' The relationship between the organization led to the Broad Street facility housing 118 dogs from rescues across NY, and locally.

After the video surfaced, Road To Home Utica (RTHU) was evicted from the Broad Street facility, where Kim Strong was also allegedly living. In the past few days, Kim has moved out of the Broad Street warehouse. Several of the dogs have been removed from the warehouse, leaving approximately 60 confined to small crates, in a building reportedly filthy, and overrun by insects and rodents.

Trying to get information about who exactly is in charge at the facility, and what fate awaits the dogs still living there has been difficult.

Angela Suppa, an animal advocate, visited the warehouse and says she saw 3 volunteers there, but was unable to determine what they were doing, and their affiliation. She was able to coordinate - through Facebook - volunteers to deliver fleece blankets to the warehouse. She and a friend walked about 12 of the dogs, that otherwise spend their day in crates with no water accessible. Angela says the volunteers told her the remaining dogs were too viscous to be walked.

Another volunteer says conditions are horrible. "Words can’t express how I felt when I arrived (at the warehouse) and how much worse I felt when I left. I knew it was bad, but this was worse than I expected."

A Facebook page has been established, called "Save The Road To Home Utica Dogs," which appears to be the most thorough information available on the status of the dogs remaining at the warehouse. The page is maintaining a list of dogs currently at the warehouse, the rescues from which they originally came, and the status of dogs that are left - or in some cases - died.

How can you help?

• Volunteer your time to walk these dogs.
• Make donations of needed materials - food, cleaning supplies, water bowls.
• Contact your local officials: Oneida County District Attorney's office at 315-798-5766 and the Oneida County Executive, Anthony Picente Jr at 315-798-5800.