Appalled by state laws, NCSU grad saves hundreds of neglected stray dogs and cats

The 22-year-old North Carolina State University graduate said Rusty's Rescue Ranch, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, was forced to stop taking in dogs and cats in July when donations stalled.

For now, instead of bringing in more animals, Murphy posted on the rescue's Facebook page that Rusty's will focus on fundraising and placing dogs and cats currently in the rescue.

"Unfortunately, we run on public donations, and with the prices of everything increasing, donations have plateaued significantly," she wrote. "This has resulted in a significant decrease in our ability to place dogs and provide for each of our fosters ... eventually, we will be reopening and saving more animals, but right now we really need to focus on changing the structure of our organization, fundraising, and getting the animals we currently have placed."

Murphy, who works full-time as a biochemist in addition to running the rescue, said donations and support came in strong when she launched Rusty's in 2020 with her college roommates. In one year, they were able to save 400 dogs and cats.

Donations have slowed recently due to impacts from inflation, Murphy said.

Murphy has been rescuing strays her entire life. At her childhood home in Statesville, her parents were known for taking in stray animals and unwanted pets.

"My parents' house was a dumping ground," Murphy said. "People would drop off strays at their house and tie them to the front porch. We usually had about seven dogs at a time."

Since they couldn't keep them all, Murphy and her parents would get veterinary care for the dogs and cats and try to find them new homes.

While she was in school, Murphy worked at a local animal hospital. She would bring the animals people left outside her home to the clinic. When the clinic was full of stray dogs and cats, she would try to find new owners.

Murphy has always been an advocate for animals.

In crisis: More than 10,000 dogs and cats were killed in NC animal shelters last year

After founding Rusty's Rescue Ranch, she drew the attention of a county commissioner after she snapped a photo of a dog chained up outside a home with no shelter or water. No one was helping, so she posted the picture on social media.

She also helped break up a hoarding case, where a backyard breeder was keeping 60 dogs in kennels outside. She helped find homes for 30 of the dogs.

Murphy receives dozens of phone calls and Facebook messages daily.

"My Facebook page is all dead dogs," she said. "It's all dogs that will probably die in a shelter."

Whether it's calls about animals hours away from being euthanized over a lack of space in shelters, dogs chained up and left in 100-degree heat with no water or posts about pets beaten by their owners, Murphy had to toughen her heart, because she has seen and heard it all.

Breeding restrictions and an emphasis on spay and neuter programs would help, but little is being done.

N.C. is one of few states in the country that has no oversight of so-called "puppy mills." It's also been the location of many large puppy mill busts.

"We're not a big state," Murphy said. "Our raw data should not compare to Texas and California, but we have no laws. We have nothing protecting animals. In other states, you have to have a license to breed dogs, you can't keep a dog chained up outside for certain hours in the day ... none of that applies here. Dogs don't have to be fixed, so any dog can come by and make more dogs."

When it comes to laws that protect animals and pets, N.C. is behind other states, largely because of the importance of commercial farming to the state’s economy.

WRAL Capitol Bureau Chief Laura Leslie said the last substantial animal welfare law this state passed was back in 1977, which set very minimal standards for humane treatment, and there are few to no restrictions for people breeding dogs in N.C.

House Bill 930, which sets minimum animal care standards for commercial dog breeders, was introduced years ago but died in the Senate in 2014.

Republican Sen. Bill Rabon, a veterinarian who represented Brunswick County, was one of the lawmakers in opposition of the bill, which some said could be too easily interpreted to apply not just to dogs but to livestock as well.

“It can’t spill over to the animal husbandry in this state, which is an $80 billion industry – larger than the other top five industries in the state,” Rabon said in 2014. “There is a LOT of money involved.”

Since then, many similar bills have been filed, but none have reached a chamber floor for a vote.

Often, it's the dogs at shelters that appear aggressive or have behavioral problems that are first to be euthanized when more space is needed. But as Murphy explains, many of those animals were mistreated or have never been given a chance to experience anything but a life in a cage.

"That's why Rusty's takes so many difficult dogs," she said.

Rusty's Rescue Ranch is named in remembrance of an Australian shepherd Murphy's parents brought home one day.

Rusty had spent his entire life in a cage and wasn't used to being around people. He had two bites on his record. One day, he became agitated and attacked Murphy, who had to go to the hospital. Rusty was taken by Animal Control and euthanized.

"He was not psychologically okay," said Murphy, who had been calling animal sanctuaries that take dogs with behavioral problems. "But he didn't bite anybody for two years, and I wanted him to go somewhere safe. If he bit somebody one more time, that was it for him."

There is a great need for adoptions, especially for cats, Murphy said. Animals six months and older are spayed/neutered and micro-chipped and up-to-date on shots, heartworm prevention and flea and tick medication. Younger puppies are adopted out with a $150 voucher to pay for a spay/neuter surgery.