On a Tuesday in late June, a truck pulled up to an animal shelter in Fort Worth, Texas, after driving for five hours in the sweltering heat. In the flatbed of the truck was some cargo covered by a tarp. Under the tarp were kennels containing over 20 animals — and they were in terrible shape.
“A woman surrendered them to us from Houston,” Cassie Lackey, community relations manager for the Humane Society of North Texas (HSNT), told The Dodo. “We don’t have a lot of info on her and, honestly, considering the conditions these animals were in, our first priority was to save their lives.”
The people at the shelter sprung into action, taking all the animals inside. There were dogs and cats — six cats were discovered stuffed in a single crate. There were also exotic animals: four sugar gliders, a snake and a red-footed turtle in a box “inches deep with fecal matter and he couldn’t even turn around in the box,” Lackey said. “These animals had a myriad of health concerns, heatstroke being top on the list.”