New Canaan dog rescue group head blamed in five canine deaths

A New Canaan dog rescue nonprofit has identified its president as being responsible for the deaths of five dogs in her care.

Chris Antolini, vice president of Bully Breed Rescue Inc., posted a message on the group”™s website that confirmed news reports from last week on the discovery of the dogs”™ remains occurred in the Fairfield home of Heidi Lueders, the nonprofit”™s president. “Over the last 7 months, Ms. Lueders had previously communicated to members and volunteers that she had sent four of these dogs to a sanctuary and the fifth dog was in a foster which she was monitoring,” Antolini wrote. “None of these dogs were known to be within the residence of Prince Street.”

The Fairfield Police Department is still investigating the matter and, as of this writing, no charges have been filed against Lueders, who has not issued a public comment.

“It looked like that had been there for a while,” said Fairfield Police Lt. Robert Kalamaras in an interview with WFSB-TV about the dead dogs. “They were still inside the crates, pretty much down to the bones. There was dog feces all over the house.”