Mark and Jacqueline Fligner left their home in Gladstone, Somerset County, on Thursday and drove more than an hour to Jackson to be the first in line outside an animal shelter before its doors opened to the public.
In their minds were images of a black Chihuahua mix named Sugar, a dog they had seen on television the day before.
Sugar, who is just one year old and loves the attention, was one of nearly 180 dogs and cats rescued from a supposedly dirty and overcrowded home in Brick in December.
On Thursday afternoon, Sugar got a second chance at a good life in the arms of 66-year-old Mark Fligner, whom she excitedly licked.
“She (Mark’s wife, Jacqueline) fell in love with her as soon as she saw her on TV,” said Mark Fligner. “She is a sweet dog.”
Before humanitarian agents abducted Sugar in December from the Arrowhead Drive home in Brick, the dog and her canine and feline companions reportedly lived in squalor, in cages littered with filth and feces.
Two women who lived in the house, Aimee Lonczak, 49, and Michele Nycz, 58, face charges of animal cruelty and endangerment to children, because Lonczak’s daughter also lived there. Brick officials have since condemned the house.
Mary Alano, manager of the Northern Ocean County Animal Facility, where many of the animals were kept and cleaned in the weeks after they were seized, said the pet cages at the Brick home were filled with feces and urine.
“They had to learn to walk on the ground and then learn to step on the grass,” Alano said. “We were lucky they didn’t have horrendous burns (from urine chemical burns) on their paw pads.”
Some of the animals even had feces trapped between their teeth and gums when trying to groom themselves, he said.
“Some of them had a hard time balancing on a normal hard floor,” said Brian Lippai, a spokesman for the Ocean County Animal Facility in Jackson and Stafford. “Many of them hadn’t even gotten out of the cage, as they were trying to navigate… walking through poop, urine and trash.”
Once at the shelter, the dogs had four, five, even six baths to remove encrusted feces, Alano said.
Of the about 180 animals housed in Ocean County shelters after the Brick house was emptied, 102 had been adopted by new families as of Thursday afternoon, Lippai said.
Just an hour later, Sugar turned 103 when the Fligner family signed adoption forms and chose a red and black plaid coat for her trip to her new home.
Publicity around the Brick case helped the animals seized there, but it also drew families to shelters who adopted other pets, Alano and Lippai said.
“A shelter pet, whether it came from a hoarding situation, or… it came in as a stray, or even came in as a pet that someone had to give up, it’s still a great pet.” quality,” Lippai said. “They’re still loving. They’re still adorable. They still go through the same adoption preparation process.”
Including Brick’s roughly 70 pets that remain at Ocean County’s Jackson and Stafford shelters, about 200 cats and dogs are still waiting for families, Lippai said.
“Do your homework…find the perfect match,” he said. “That’s what we’re here for. We’ll help you make that determination. If you live in an apartment, you’re not going to have a husky. You’re not going to have a bloodhound. You might want to look into a smaller dog, or maybe a cat. .. If you live on a big property, have a nice backyard, fenced in, then you might want to go with a bigger breed.”
Days like Thursday, when families lined up at the Jackson shelter to adopt pets, keep Alano inspired.
“This is what we live for. That’s why we’re here,” he said. “Now, every day, the goal is: how many more are going (to new homes) tomorrow? … That’s why the county runs inside the animal facilities. These are great adoptions and great homes for dogs. and cats who really need a second chance.”
Amanda Oglesby is a native of Ocean County and covers Brick, Barnegat and Lacey Townships, as well as the environment. She has worked for the press for more than a decade. Contact her at @OglesbyAPP, [email protected] or 732-557-5701.