ROANOKE, Va. – A Patrick County mother and son are facing charges after a severe case of animal abuse.
89-year-old Caroline Laprad and her son 54-year-old Charles Laprad were both arrested and charged with 14 counts of cruelty to animals after an ongoing investigation.
The Patrick County sheriff is calling it an "extreme" case of animal abuse. Fifty-eight dogs found in "deplorable" conditions at a residence in Patrick Springs Wednesday. The dogs are now in the care of Angels of Assisi.
"They've all got pretty severe skin infections, eye infections, some of them are pretty undersocialized. We're getting further into that and will know better what we're dealing with in the next couple days," said Lisa O'Neill, executive director.
Angels of Assisi rescued the dogs, mostly terrier mixes, after receiving an urgent call from the Humane Society of the United States. Now the real work begins. It's all hands-on-deck for the dogs, including extra staff, volunteeers and donors.
"It's a tremendous amount of work on the paperwork side, on the health side, and there's two sides to health. There's physical health, but we also have to address their mental health because a lot of them are undersocialized, a lot of them are terrified," said O'Neill.
O'Neill says the shelter has to treat each dog on a case-by-case basis. That's why the volunteers are so important to get the job done.
"We see a lot of heartache and we see a lot of terrible things that happen to animals, but we're the lucky ones because we get to see the good side of people that come out," said O'Neill.
And it turns out, good people can do good deeds from halfway across the world. Tammie Brightwell is donating supplies for the rescued dogs after a request from her daughter Hollie, who saw the story and devastating pictures online.
"She's all the way in Afghanistan working as an air traffic controller and for her to think to take care of the animals in Roanoke is wonderful," said Brightwell.
Good deeds in a great time of need as Angels of Assisi works hard to save 58 innocent souls.
To donate and help Angels of Assisi care for the 58 dogs, click here.