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“Something foul has happened,” Deborah Yankow, the director of the Bergen County Animal Shelter and Adoption Center, said Friday. “What that is we don’t yet know.”
“German Shepherds, like any other breed, come in all sizes, shapes and colors,” Yankow said. “But going from the two we have at the shelter and the pictures I’ve looked at, they all look identical, like siblings.”
Five of the young adult shepherds were found in Woodland Park, another in Wayne, two more on the Palisades Interstate Parkway in Alpine and another in nearby Closter.
Authorities hadn’t officially confirmed the discovery of another in Midland Park. At least two others have eluded them and were still at large.
When the female pair found on the PIP in Alpine arrived at the shelter, Yankow said, “I thought they strays, or that someone left a gate open or their dogs ran under a fence. That happens a lot.
“But then they started showing up in other places and I started looking at the pictures,” she told Daily Voice. “It’s just too coincidental that they showed up at all these locations in one week.
"They didn’t get from Closter to Woodland Park on their feet,” Yankow added. “Someone dumped them.”
“The dogs are terrified but friendly,” she noted. “My guess is from their condition, they were left outside.
"They’re definitely not guard dogs or house dogs. You put a leash on them and they drop to the ground.” (STORY CONTINUES BELOW)
Some have wondered whether a “backyard breeder” had perhaps gone out of business and abandoned them all or died.
Authorities say any such speculation is useless before an investigation, which will include DNA testing at the outset to try and pinpoint common denominators.
Among those participating with the Teterboro Shelter and Bergen County SPCA Animal Cruelty Task Force are police departments in the various jurisdictions where the dogs were found.
“The ultimate result will be adoptability,” Yankow said Friday, “but that’s going to take some time given their conditions and where everything’s at right now.”
The shepherds were being kept at various shelters in Bergen and Passaic counties in the meantime.
ANYONE with information that can help authorities is asked to call the Bergen County SPCA Hotline: (201) 573-8900.
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ALSO SEE: RECOGNIZE THEM? Twin Shepherds Abandoned On Palisades Interstate Parkway
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