It’s a doggone miracle!
More than a half-dozen tortured, starving dogs saved by cops from a Bronx apartment building last summer – and a litter of pups born in the aftermath – were nursed back to health by rescuers at a new upstate rehab center for abused pooches, The Post has learned.
The family of nine “terrier-types” were rescued by cops from a decrepit apartment in the Belmont section of the Bronx after responding to neighbors’ frantic calls for help last August – and found the underweight animals lacked access to food, water and even fresh air.
“The dogs were found to have dirty, foul-smelling hair coats and were experiencing dehydration, inflammation of the paw pads, and conjunctivitis,” a rep for the local ASPCA detailed.
Veterinary forensic staff heartbreakingly also found three dogs with damage to their spinal cord caused by “blunt force trauma.”
Owner Higee Mercer Wally, 27, was arrested on Aug. 4 and charged on nine counts of animal cruelty, including failure to provide proper food and water to the abused pups.
The alleged beatings had been ongoing for at least a week before a breakthrough surveillance video caught the creep, according to a Post review of 311 calls documenting the horror.
Additional footage also allegedly depicted Mercer Wally “slamming a dog to the ground and striking it multiple times as the dog was heard crying,” police said.
Despite the troubling conditions, one tough mama mutt – affectionately named Jellyfish by ASPCA rescuers – gave birth to “seven healthy puppies” at the nonprofit’s Manhattan site on Aug. 14, a rep said.
The dogs were then transferred in October to the ASPCA’s new Recovery & Rehabilitation Center in upstate New York, which provides “specialized” support to rescued pups through a partnership with the NYPD.
The Pawling center — which opened in December — also provided supplemental bottle feeding to the pups, since Jellyfish wasn’t producing enough milk, staff said.
All 16 dogs — named after sea creatures, like Scampi, Calamari and Urchin — also received exposure to unfamiliar people, other mutts and new toys in order to prepare them for life in a new home.
“Some of the dogs continued to demonstrate some fear and displayed signs of stress, requiring more specialized behavioral support to address their fear of new people and new places,” a rep said, adding the family made “significant progress” over time.
To date, 11 of the dogs have been adopted — including Jellyfish, who was renamed Chloe by her new owner. The fiver remaining pups are still available for adoption.
“Many of the dogs from this case required specialized medical and behavioral treatment to help them heal and overcome their fear of new people and environments: The ASPCA Recovery & Rehabilitation Center is designed with that kind of healing in mind,” Gail Hughes‑Morey, vice president of the center, told The Post.
“Each day, we saw small but powerful changes in the dogs from this case as they became more curious, brave, and playful — and ultimately, ready to live as pets in loving homes.”