PORT ST LUCIE, Fla. — Dozens of dogs were seized from a home in Port St Lucie, according to the Humane Society of St Lucie County.
Shannon Glendinning, director of development for the shelter, said 35 poodles were found in a home on Southeast Crosspoint Drive.
All the dogs were in good condition.
"The owner never meant for it to get so out of control," Glendinning said. "It was just an instance of not spaying and neutering."
According to Port St. Lucie city code, a person is allowed a maximum of five dogs and/or cats per residential home.
Glendinning said most of the animals were puppies. She said animal control officers removed one adult and a litter of puppies last week. They removed several more on Monday.
"Anytime when you get to that many, it's hard to maintain, so we stepped in to help," Glendinning said.
The shelter, however, is already full and wasn't able to take in the dogs.
"We're overcapacity ourselves," Glendinning said. "It would put us in a critical position in animal housing."
However, Glendinning said Florida Poodle Rescue in Jacksonville was able to take in the majority of the dogs, who will be immediately re-homed to families.
"Then the babies, we'll help adopt out as soon as they're of age," Glendinning said. "So they're all onto a better life already."
Wanda Demello, the owner of the dogs, told WPTV two of her adult dogs just had puppies, and she tried to find them a new home but couldn't.
"We were giving them comfort. We were giving them care. We were giving them love," Demello said. "So, we gave like seven puppies away, and the rest was surrendered."
The Humane Society of St Lucie County will be working with Demello to have any remaining dogs fixed and vaccinated.
"There's so many pets being born into homelessness every day, so we don't want to purposefully be bringing more into our overcrowded pet population," Glendinning said. "There's so many animals. That's why spaying and neutering is so important."
The Humane Society is also beginning its Holiday Hope Empty the Shelters holiday special, which offers free adoptions through Saturday.