An animal rescue that specialized in Rottweilers is being investigated by the Watauga Police Department, following the rescue of 47 Rottweiler dogs that were cruelly neglected.

According to a release, on March 1, the Watauga Police Department, Fire Department, and Animal Services responded to a call regarding an adult who had been injured by a dog in the 6000 block of Geyser Trail. Animal Services removed the dog.

During the follow-up investigation, the agency found more than 50 animals in dangerously unsanitary conditions, including 47 Rottweilers, 2 American Staffordshire Terriers, one mixed-breed terrier, and one cat. Three additional deceased dogs were found on the premises, as well.

Many of the surviving animals were in severe distress and required emergency medical attention.

Watauga Animal Services personnel began transporting the dogs and the police department began an investigation of animal cruelty.

Given the scale of the operation, Watauga Animal Services reached out to regional partners including the Humane Society of North Texas, the SPCA of Dallas, Irving Animal Services, Dallas Animal Services, Fort Worth Animal Services, and others. The release says that their assistance was critical to the successful removal and care of the victim animals.

A Rottie Rescue
The rescue involved was called A Rottie Rescue Inc., founded by a woman named Sherri Prewitt Green, who has been "rescuing" Rottweilers from a variety of municipal shelters across Texas and the Southwest for more than a decade, including Fort Worth Animal Care & Control, Dallas Animal Services, and Arlington Animal Services, as well as shelters in Houston, San Antonio, Laredo, Corpus Christi, San Bernadino, California, Roswell, New Mexico, and Las Vegas, Nevada, where Green kept horses.

A Rottie Rescue's website has been taken down but according to Rescue magazine, "A Rottie Rescue, Inc. is a breed-specific Rottweiler Rescue, founded by Sherri Prewitt Green with the vision of saving Rottweiler lives from high kill shelters and those with critical medical needs who have little chance of rescue."

How rescues work
A reputable rescue takes animals from shelters and uses its network of fosters, adopters, and friends to find new homes so that the animals are not euthanized.

However, rescues don't need a license and they aren't regulated by the state. Anyone can get a 501c3 and call themselves a rescue.

A disreputable rescue takes animals from shelters without regard for the outcome of the animals. Some stash them in boarding facilities. Others — apparently including A Rottie Rescue — neglect them.

In this case, the animals were reported to be severely dehydrated and underweight, likely without food or water for an extended period of time. Rescuers described them as covered in feces and urine, many not neutered, and many positive for heartworm disease.

One foster who received one of the dogs said that it was one-and-a-half years old, weighed only 38 pounds, "and can barely walk."

A two-year-old Rottweiler should weigh between 95 and 135 pounds.

While the discovery came as a shock to some local organizations and advocates, including some who'd given dogs to Prewitt Green to "rescue," there had also been warnings about Prewitt Green from other rescue groups dating back to 2014.

The investigation is ongoing and criminal charges are being pursued. Anyone with information can contact Sgt. D. Bannick at www.cowtx.org/tips.