From the road, nothing seemed awry at the Willow Hill, Pennsylvania home of Randy Hammond. But Hammond had a secret: 85 of the rarest breed of dogs in the world were living in crowded, dirty enclosures on his property. Called the New Guinea Singing Dogs for their melodious howls and country of origin, just 150 were known to exist worldwide before Hammond’s brood was discovered.
“At first I thought it would be impossible to rescue them,” says Tom Wendt of New Guinea Singing Dog International. A tipster alerted Pennsylvania dog warden Georgia Martin, who after visiting Hammond’s dogs and hearing a chorus she describes as chilling and beautiful, sought help.
Wendt, of Maringo, Illinois, himself an owner of two Singing Dogs, has visited Pennsylvania three times since October 29 to lead an all-volunteer effort to find the dogs homes and get them spayed and neutered, with the help of a mobile veterinary clinic from the Gettysburg SPCA. “It’s rewarding to get it done,” says Wendt, 54, a restoration contractor.
Full story: 85 Rare Singing Dogs Discovered at Pennsylvania Home
