MUSKEGON COUNTY, Mich. — Shaggy Kuipers and Annette Homoly say that they're the couple who has sparked outrage across social media over the past week, dropping six puppies off at the Noah Project on the night of May 2.
Homoly says she has just over 20 birds such as ducks and chickens at her home.
That night when she came home from work, she found three of her birds dead with about half of them injured.
"She said let's take them to the Noah Project, I don't want them at the house," said Kuipers. "They cannot be here right now. So that's where we took them."
She says that was the moment that she knew the puppies needed to go somewhere else.
"I was so traumatized by what I was seeing that I just wanted them gone," said Homoly. "And I thought that we were doing the right thing by bringing them to a no kill shelter."
According to Homoly, the puppies that came from her two other fully grown dogs broke into her garage and had attacked the birds.
That's when she says she and Kuipers made the decision to drive the puppies to the Noah Project.
"I got a hold of him and he couldn't understand a word I was saying on the phone," said Homoly. "He didn't even know the extent of what I was seeing and visualize it. I mean, I was traumatized. It was the most traumatic thing I think I've ever been through in my life."
A post from the Noah Project on the day after the puppies were left at the shelter says the owners threw them over their fence. Kuipers, who takes responsibility for dropping the puppies off, says he wouldn't do something like that.
"It's not what people are making it out to be," said Kuipers. "No, those puppies after I dropped them had made maybe at the max 12 inches."
13 On Your Side weather data shows that night air temperature near the Noah Project never got below 40 degrees.
Kuipers and Homoly say this incident has been difficult on them, adding that they have received hateful comments throughout the week.
"We just went all the slander to stop that's it," said Kuipers. "We're not bad people. We don't want our kids getting death threats. We don't want to have to worry about this for the rest of the time we live in Muskegon."
The Noah Project has been posting frequent updates about the puppies and is asking for donations to help with their care.
We have repeatedly reached out to the Noah Project for comment, but they say they are not available until Tuesday, May 9.
The couple also told 13 On Your Side that they have been in contact with the Fruitport Police Department.
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