A fast-moving fire blasted through a big dog rescue in New York on Thursday night, killing all of the animals inside, according to officials. Just before 1 a.m., Canton Fire Department Assistant Fire Chief Robert Crowe reported that crews had responded to Maple Ridge Kennels on State Highway 68 for a reported structural fire. The kennel is located in Canton, a community 130 miles northeast of Syracuse, just south of the US-Canadian border.
Crowe claimed that before firefighters arrived, a bystander noticed the flames rising from the building and contacted 911. According to a social media post, firemen were met with significant flames in the kennel building on the property that housed No Dogs Left Behind, a non-profit organisation dedicated to rescuing dogs from the international meat trade sector.
“Unfortunately, due to the volume of the fire, the animals housed in the building perished,” fire officials stated in the post. According to the Associated Press, the fire claimed the lives of over 40 dogs.
We are so heartbroken.
Neither firefighters nor bystanders were wounded. “We are terribly heartbroken,” the New York City-based non-profit led by Jeffrey Beri wrote on social media following the fire at its upstate Canton site. “Each dog was part of our family. Tragically, they are victims once more. We don’t have the words to describe our pain.”
USA TODAY reached out to Beri and fire officials. According to their website, the organisation has “boots on the ground in Asia, fighting on the front lines to rescue dogs from the illegal dog-meat trade.”
“No Dogs Left Behind works hands-on with local activists through emergency response, pulling dogs directly from slaughterhouses, dog meat trucks, wet markets and traffickers,” according to its website. “Our mission extends beyond borders worldwide, advocating for the creation and enforcement of animal welfare laws, and raising awareness for a cruelty-free, sustainable world in which no animal is violated, exploited, tortured or slaughtered for commercial goods or profit.”
The St. Lawrence County Fire Investigation Team continued to investigate the cause of the fire on Friday.
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