Mass animal rescue held at closed lab

"The (animal) shelter on the whole East Coast came together," said Mike Williams, with Wake County Animal Care and Control. "No one shelter can absorb that many in one night."

Only one group was allowed in at one time, and rescue workers couldn't carry recording or communication devices, such as cell phones or cameras. Lab workers loaded the animals and did little or no talking.

"We are doing the best we can to get the dogs out of there as quickly as possible," Carlton said. "If that means smiling and keeping your mouth shut, that is what we are doing."

The PLRS lab was closed after PETA released undercover video it describes as showing workers cruelly treating dogs, cats and rabbits. The Gates County District Attorney's Office and the federal Department of Agriculture were investigating the case.

PLRS hasn't commented on the closing of the lab, but earlier, president Helen Sonenshine said that the video disgusted and appalled her and that anyone who broke company rules will be fired.

PETA contends that the video depicts animals living in their own excrement, sprayed with harsh chemicals and violently thrown. As edited by PETA, the video shows an employee apparently trying to rip off a cat's claws with a fence and a dog given an expired sedation drug that doesn't work during a tooth removal.

In one scene of PETA's video, a beagle cowers as a person approaches its cage, derisively describes the dog’s condition, snatches it by the neck and says, “They act like they’ve been abused.”

The rescued animals were taken to shelters and foster homes across North Carolina and the East Coast.

The animals will be kept in foster care and rehabilitated while workers determine which are fit for adoption.

"Whatever has been or not done is in the past," Carlton said. "We have to start fresh with these dogs."