MONTOUR TOWNSHIP -- Eight puppies and their mother are now safe after police busted a suspected drug lab near Bloomsburg.
Several people found inside that mobile home are now in police custody facing felony charges.
Around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, police in Columbia County raided a mobile home near Bloomsburg expecting to find methamphetamine, and meth making supplies.
But police found even more when they went inside: newborn puppies only about a week old and their mother without any food in sight.
Neighbors at the Perry Avenue trailer park say the raid began Wednesday morning.
“I see an unmarked car come in, then I see another car come in, and then another and then another,” said neighbor Kristy Shultz.
Shultz lives in a mobile home just across from the apparent meth operation and says she knew the men living there and what was going on inside.
“They don’t know how to keep their mouths quiet so everybody talks and there’s traffic going in and out, a million times a day. Hello, it’s common sense. It’s a drug house.”
Police say this is the second time this trailer has been busted for meth making. Two years ago different renters were also found to be making meth here.
“It’s cheap to make, and it’s easy to make and it’s very dangerous to make but there’s more and more of it popping up all over,” said Montour Township Police Chief Terry Eckart.
Crews rescued newborn pups and their mother Sika from the mobile home.
“It’s pretty bad in there, pretty bad in there, no food for the mother. I saw no food, no water, so I don’t know how many days she’s been going without that and of course she’s got to feed her puppies,” said Animal Resource Center volunteer Linda Bird.
Volunteers say the boxer-lab mix puppies are extremely young and will need some TLC. They'll get plenty of it at the Animal Resource Center in Bloomsburg until they find a loving home.
“They’re only about a week old, so it’s going to be a little time, and then eventually they’ll learn to trust our staff, and they will be up for adoption once we get them all taken care of and they get a little bit older.”
William Parks, Matthew Smith and Michael Ridall are all being arraigned on meth manufacturing and other drug charges.
Two women were arrested on unrelated charges.
The puppies are being cared for in Bloomsburg at the Animal Resource Center.