85 NEW GUINEA SINGERS! OH, MY!

If you have a better memory than my mom does, you might remember that I wrote about New Guinea Singing Dogs last April.  And at that time, I told you there were hardly any singers left in the wild, and there weren't even all that many in captivity.

So that's why everyone was very shocked last month when it turned out that a man named Randy Hammond, who lives in Willow Hill, Pennsylvania, had 85 New Guinea Singing Dogs of his very own, right there on his property!  And the way the animal wardens found out about these dogs was because somebody heard them "singing," and phoned in a tip.

Mr. Hammond was charged with animal cruelty because he didn't have a license for his kennel, and also he didn't have a licenses and rabies shots for the dogs.  So now he owes $1,100 in fines.  He was keeping the dogs in pens outdoors, but the conditions were getting crowded because of the large number of dogs.  The rescuers said the dogs looked pretty healthy, but they were dirty and of course they should have had shots and vet care and stuff like that.

And all these dogs started from only two pairs of dogs.  Mr. Hammond bought the first pair as puppies at a flea market in the 1990s, which seems like a very strange place to buy a rare breed like the New Guinea Singing Dog.  And then later on, Mr. Hammond bought another pair of singer pups.  So all 85 of his dogs came from just these 4 dogs, which means that there was lots of inbreeding going on.






Sometimes, in these hoarding situations, the dogs are all euthanized, but in this case, people are trying to save the dogs and find new homes for them.  Mr. Hammond will be allowed to keep 10 dogs because he is cooperating with the animal control people and the rescuers.  But his 10 dogs will be spayed and neutered and vaccinated before he gets them back.

Meanwhile, a group called New Guinea Singing Dog International is trying to rescue the other singers.   This group needs donations, and they also need people who can give these dogs homes.  NGSDs are not the best kind of dog for just anybody to adopt, though, because they have a high prey drive, and they can climb trees and fences, and you have to be careful to keep them from getting out of your yard.  But if you think you might like to adopt one of these rare and interesting dogs, you can find out more on the NGSD International website.  And you can see tons of photos on the group's Facebook page.