Athens Banner-Herald — In Athens, calling out the dogs generally involves a Saturday afternoon, a really good football team and about 93,000 fans. There was another calling out recently at the Athens Area Humane Society, and while the numbers were considerably smaller, the feelings for canines were no less ardent.
A year ago, five beagle puppies that were rescued from a breeding facility (and a presumed short life as the subjects of medical experimentation in laboratories) were brought to the local Humane Society. The five pups were among some 4,000 beagles that were freed from a puppy mill in Cumberland, Virginia, and sent to shelters throughout the United States.
The beagles were part of the largest dog rescue operation in the country and were saved last July after the U.S. Department of Agriculture cited the facility for violations of the Animal Welfare Act.
