27 dogs rescued from Hopkinton home

HOPKINTON, R.I. (WLNE) — An animal cruelty complaint in Hopkinton ended with nearly thirty golden retrievers being rescued from a home.

Police received a call early Friday and arrived at a home they say they needed hazmat gear to safely enter.

Seven adult and 20 golden retriever puppies were rescued Friday before being brought to the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to be taken care of.

The complaint came from someone who had recently purchased a puppy from a home on Alton Bradford Road.

Neighbors said they had no idea there were dozens of dogs inside the house.

“Yeah, I knew he had the adult dogs because when he’d come home at night they would bark at him, and he’d bring them inside the house every night and bring them out every morning,” neighbor Mike Poulin said. “I’ve never seen anything that would even make you think there were that many dogs inside the house.”

Staff from RISPCA said the person inside the home gave up the animals willingly.

“The person that we spoke with at the residence was very cooperative,” RISPCA President Wayne Kezirian said. “He recognized that there was more going on there than one person could handle. So now, we’ve got a kennel full of animals.”

The organization said it will make sure the dogs are all taken care of before being put up for adoption.

“They’ll all be adoptable,” Stephanie Van Patten said. “We probably will put them into foster homes first and then make sure they’re cleared, make sure they’re spayed and neutered, and then we’ll get them into good homes.”

That process will take some time, however.

“Folks who are interested in fostering these animals for us, in the short-term, would help,” Kezirian said. “It’s much better for a young puppy to be socialized in a home than in a cage.”

No charges have been announced against the person who the dogs were seized from.