Wolf-dog owner had "good intentions"

NORTH OF ELSA - The remains of the tall shaded enclosures that housed the wolf dogs are still standing, but the nine hybrids - and 18 other dogs kept in 10-by-10 fenced spots - are long gone.

Elizabeth Soroy, 53, and her son, Morten Pedersen, 34, once kept 27 dogs on this patch of unincorporated scrubland, taking in strays and abused creatures dumped at the side of the road.

The two, who turned in all their animals to the Palm Valley Animal Center in early April, say they had the best of intentions. Both are trained to work with animals and wanted to care for those they rescued. It just got too expensive.

"There is nobody who cares more for animals than me," Soroy said.

The nine wolf dogs, now in kennels at Edinburg's Palm Valley, were featured Tuesday in The Monitor.

Soroy, a Norwegian animal behaviorist who lives in Mission, says she gave the wolf-dogs - abused animals rescued from three states - to the shelter on the condition they be immediately put down because she knew there wasn't a sanctuary with room to take them.

"I did not know anything about her supposedly looking for another (sanctuary), because that's the reason why we were going through all of this," Palm Valley Executive Director Laural Powell said of his staff's struggle to find a home for the nine animals.

So, the miscommunication between Soroy and shelter staff apparently kept the animals at the shelter for the last month.

"I said if they don't do that (euthanize them); I will not take them there," Soroy angrily said of her discussion with shelter staff when she dropped off the wolf dogs.

She said she never wanted the wolves to be kept at Palm Valley.

"To me, it's just cruelty to animals," she said.

Palm Valley board members have hesitated to euthanize the wolf dogs, calling rescue organizations across the country looking for a place where they can permanently live.

Animal lovers like Soroy can run into trouble trying to care for every dog they find, Powell said.

"A lot of times they have good intentions, it's just how they go about it isn't in the best way for the long term - they're just not prepared," she said.

"Ms. Soroy is a wonderful pet owner that in my opinion just tries to do so, so much," said Dr. Adalberto Garza, an Edinburg veterinarian who saw her animals in groups when they were ill or injured.

"She got into a situation that she just had so many animals she's trying to save, she was acting like a one-person humane society."

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Sara Perkins covers Mission, western Hidalgo County, Starr County and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach her at (956) 683-4472.