03/13/2026
Animal Rescue Closing After St. Clair County Legal Fight Leads to $300K Loss
Chelsea, Alabama — After more than ten years of rescuing abused, abandoned, and critically ill animals across Alabama, Support Paws Rescue announced it will officially close on March 15, 2026.
Founded and operated by Michael Partain and Shannon Benzinger, Support Paws became known for taking in animals that many other rescues could not — including severely abused dogs, animals suffering from parvo, and animals facing imminent euthanasia.
Over the years, the rescue saved hundreds of animals — possibly thousands when including transports and emergency placements — providing medical care, rehabilitation, and adoption opportunities for animals with little chance of survival elsewhere.
Support Paws gained a reputation for taking on difficult cases, including puppies suffering from parvo. During one three-year stretch, the rescue achieved an 80% survival rate for parvo puppies, a disease that often proves fatal without intensive care.
Many of those animals required around-the-clock care.
“We would take shifts through the night giving fluids sometimes every hour for weeks at a time,” said Partain. “Sometimes the only thing you could do was hope that when morning came, one more puppy would still be breathing.”
The rescue also handled some of the region’s most severe abuse cases.
One of the most widely known rescues was Clover, a puppy that had been severely burned over much of her body. After weeks of treatment and care, Clover fully recovered and later became known online as the Madeira Beach Fire Dog.
Another dog, Marmaduke, had been abused for years by having ci******es put out on her while tied to a chain and was rescued only an hour before being euthanized after spending a year in Sylacauga Humane. She remains with the founders today.
Although Support Paws operated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, much of the rescue’s funding came directly from the founders themselves. Over the years, they personally covered many of the costs required to keep the rescue operating.
In an effort to create a sustainable way to fund the rescue, the founders launched a project called Little Coosa, intended to financially support, Support Paws.
However, the project faced legal challenges from a neighboring property owner. After litigation in St. Clair County, the court issued a permanent injunction on March 6, effectively shutting the project down. The founders say the legal process resulted in losses approaching $300,000, making it impossible to continue funding the rescue.
“With the loss of Little Coosa, Support Paws simply cannot survive financially,” Partain said.
For the founders, the decision to close the rescue was devastating.
“When people hear that Support Paws is closing, they may see the end of an organization,” Partain said. “But what we see are the faces — the animals who survived because someone refused to give up on them.”
The founders are asking anyone who adopted an animal from Support Paws or whose lives were touched by the rescue to share their stories and photos so the impact of the rescue will not be forgotten.
Archived versions of the Support Paws website documenting the rescue’s history are available online. We removed Support Paws Facebook as we no longer can give help. A shortened version of the website is up as most community help ended with the Judgement.
www.supportpaws.com
