Over 50 Shelties saved from Woodcrest fire up for adoption

JURUPA VALLEY, Calif. (KABC) -- It was a busy Monday morning at the animal shelter in Jurupa Valley, as dozens of people showed up to get on a waiting list to rescue one of more than 50 Shelties.

The dogs were rescued Saturday during a house fire. Nancy Coble was one of the Sheltie hopefuls.

"I just feel so bad for this, but I'm glad that people are showing up, and it's a good thing," she said.

Timothy Howard came all the way from Pasadena to get on the list.

"It's like a feeding frenzy, the people are louder than the dogs in here," he said.

No dogs or people were hurt in the house fire, which broke out on the 16000 block of Pick Place in Woodcrest. But it was the discovery of 56 shelties inside the home that caught many by surprise.

The owner released all but four of them, and word spread quickly.

Even before the shelter opened, people were lined up and waiting. People who work at the shelter say the response has been incredible.

"We were predicting that there were going to be a lot of people, but probably not quite this many," said Kim McWhorters with Riverside County Animal Services.

Still, McWhorters said in some ways, it's bittersweet.

"We wish that people would come down here like this every day for all of the animals that we have in our shelter, and not just when it's a special breed," she said.

All the Shelties have been spoken for, but the waitlist is a backup in case any potential dog owners fall through. The dogs won't be released to their new homes for about another week.

The owner of the home that caught fire apparently did not have a kennel permit and allowed the animals to roam freely on a fenced lot. The owner will at the very least face a violation for an improper kennel, animal control said. The investigation is ongoing.