Roger Clemens’ former daughter-in-law Callie crawls through storm drains to rescue stray dogs in Texas
The ex of the son of former Yankee star hurler Roger Clemens told The Post on Sunday how she has been crawling through rank, roach-infested drain pipes in Houston to rescue a litter of abandoned puppies.
Callie Clemens, 35, and her dog Giselle led a small team of volunteers through the city’s gnarly storm drains beginning Wednesday after hearing reports of puppies whimpering underground in the Texas city.
The animal-lover, who is 5 feet tall, has already helped rescue two black Labrador-mutt pups — one Wednesday and another Thursday — explaining she is able to use her slight size to her advantage and fit through the system’s 24-inch openings, unlike other would-be animal rescuers, including city workers with Houston’s 311 system.
“I saw two [puppies] down there,” Callie told The Post by phone as she prepared to re-enter the city’s dank underground for the fifth day to resume the search for a pup she still believes is missing.
“I’m not stopping, I mean, I already told my mom, “I think I’m going to keep this dog if I find it,’ I’m so invested,” said Callie, who is in the midst of a divorce from Roger Clemens’ son, Koby Clemens.
She added that “the ASPCA took the female… and the other one went to the shelter, and it really needs a home, and it’s a boy.”
The Clemens in-law — who founded the nonprofit Paws Off the Street — estimated she had spent about eight hours underground and at least 20 hours above ground doing reconnaissance over the past four days.
“I’m exhausted!” she said. “It’s hard to sleep.”
Two other volunteers have at times joined her underground, while others kept watch on the street, tracking her movements on her smart watch, she said.
“Houston is so bad that 311, which is who we call, and animal control, they have rules that we can’t get down in there, and then 311, none of those people can fit” in the tunnels, she said.
“And ASPCA, they have so many calls that they can only stay for an hour, so it leaves it to the citizen, the little guy.”
Callie said the city has been somewhat helpful in the rescue effort, with its engineers giving her a map of the system.
The situation highlights the epidemic of stray animals in Texas’ largest city, animal advocates say.
About 1 million stray dogs and cats are said to be wandering the streets of Houston, many of them abused and left for dead, according to the documentary “For the Animals.”
The city of 2.2 million people does not have mandatory spay-neuter laws, exacerbating the problem, experts say.
Callie’s estranged husband, Koby Clemens, is the eldest son of Roger and played in baseball’s minor leagues.
His controversial dad, widely considered one of the best pitchers in Major League Baseball history, spent most of his storied career with the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees but has failed to be elected to the Hall of Fame because of his infamous steroid abuse.
