Imagine walking onto a Convocation Center basketball court full of dogs and cats that desperately need people’s attention.

That was the scene on Tuesday at the DeKalb Taylor Municipal Airport as volunteers continued to stream in to help TAILS work to restore a normal life to the hundreds of pets temporarily living there.

Barbara Munroe, the Rochelle woman charged with 10 misdemeanors relating to animal cruelty, pleaded not guilty to those charges Monday.

Authorities found over 200 dead animals at Munroe’s property, located on Melugins Grove Road, just south of downtown Rochelle. The animals were found in freezers, inside and outside the home as well as near a recent burn pile.

The Lee County Health Department has taken control of the home and deemed it unfit to live in.

Walking into the airport hangar, volunteers are asked to sign in and decide what they want to help with.

The jobs are plentiful.

Every dog needs to be taken out a few times during the day in addition to being fed and groomed. The cats, in two makeshift rooms within the hangar, need time to play with the volunteers as well as be fed and have their litter boxes cleaned out.

NIU sophomore and volunteer Melissa Elaguizy said she was glad to help out.

“I love dogs,” Elaguizy said. “TAILS couldn’t do it by themselves, and I just wanted to help out.”

Plans for the animals are still pending. TAILS is waiting for approval from the Lee County state’s attorney’s office to become the legal owners of the animals.

If the decision goes through, TAILS would house as many of the animals as possible at its facility at 2250 Barber Greene Road in DeKalb. Those animals that are unable to stay at the TAILS shelter would go up for adoption or transported to other shelters and foster homes around the area.

Groomers and veterinarians have come to DeKalb from around the area to administer shots to the animals in hopes that their health checks out and they can go through a smooth adoption process.

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