Detroit shelter receives $500K anonymous donation following theft of dogs
(CBS DETROIT) - After a Detroit nonprofit's dogs were stolen, a positive turnaround is ending the saga.
Last week, Make a Difference Rescue was sent into shock.
Detroit Now News talked with Judie Jones, founder of M.A.D.R.
"I can't even explain the devastation you feel knowing that these helpless animals were taken," Jones said.
M.A.D.R. has been in the Metro Detroit community for over a decade. The center is known for sheltering dogs. Three people recently broke into their shelter, nabbing four dogs in the process.
"Everything was tampered with they broke our video screen for our security cameras," Jones says.
Jones along with her team realized the break-in during the morning hours, and they spent nearly the next 24 hours putting up flyers and searching for the dogs.
"We did a flyer with all four dogs and we put a reward on it," she said.
The first dog, "Willow," was spotted fairly easily by a local Detroit resident. According to Jones, Willow was spotted in an abandoned garage. Jones, credits her team and volunteers for being willing to search for the dogs.
A little after midnight the search continued, and while the teams still canvassed the local area, they began to hear howling. They immediately knew it was "Titus."
"They were in an apartment building ten minutes from here tied up in an abandoned apartment," Jones said.
With all four dogs back in their respective cages in less than 48 hours, M.A.D.R. was glad.
Next Judie, received a call from a Detroit donor who'd like to remain anonymous pledging $500,000 for the organization to get a new facility. It's M.A.D.R.'s largest donation in history.
"The building and property and renovations to make it... be able to handle the number of dogs we have here, is just about $1 million so what we have to do is raise an additional $500,000," Jones explained.
Now, the shelter has begun a dollar-for-dollar fundraiser.
M.A.D.R. is hoping this incident sheds light on a growing stray dog problem the city is seeing.
"We have to help this, whether we put a spay and neuter law into effect or we are harder on prosecution for the abuse to animals," Jones affirmed.
Detroit police were called and are investigating the dog-nabbing incident. According to DPD, no arrests have been made.
