Process underway to rehab and rehome 37 dogs seized by county

Wendy Crowley, an animal care technician, spends some time with Mendes, one of the numerous adoptable dogs at the Marion County Animal Center off Southeast Baseline Road in Ocala, Fla. on Friday, Dec. 17, 2021. The no-kill shelter is currently over its capacity with over 200 dogs and numerous cats and is asking people to come in and adopt a pet and give it a good home for the holidays. Part of the reason that the Animal Center is so full is because of the 37 dogs that were seized in an animal cruelty case on Thursday afternoon. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2021.

Home » Community

Posted December 31, 2021 | By Matthew Cretul
matthew@ocalagazette.com

Earlier this month Marion County Animal Services confiscated 37 dogs from the home of a repeat offender. According to a press release on the incident put out by the department at the time, Animal Services was attempting to gain legal custody of the dogs in order to begin the process of rehabilitating and ultimately re-homing them.

Stacie Causey, a spokesperson for Marion County indicated the intended course of action is underway, and a court case to transfer legal custody to the county has been scheduled for early January. She said the process will be slightly different for each animal.

“The court case is the first step in several for the county to gain custody of the dogs, who are in various stages of health. Some will be able to be adopted quicker, while others will require more of the county’s resources,” Causey said.

The dogs in poorer health will need to be treated and monitored by county staff until they reach a state where adoption is possible.

The addition of the nearly three dozen dogs to their shelters took any remaining space Animal Services had available. This began to lead to overcrowding, and as a result, Animal Services waived any adoption fees for the remainder of December.

In a separate press release issued after the incident, Jim Sweet, Marion County Animal Services director indicated his department was waiving the fees to help encourage adoptions.

“Our adoption package is a great value, even at our regular cost of $50,” said Sweet in the press release.

“Our adoptable pets are spayed or neutered, vaccinated, dewormed, given flea prevention, licensed, and microchipped. We also offer heartworm tests and feline leukemia testing. We hope that the savings on the typical adoption fee may be used for the pet in other ways, such as animal supplies, food, and enrichment.”

Causey noted that while the shelter provides a temporary home and, in most cases, better condition than the animal came from, it’s not an ideal long-term solution for them.

“We try to make the shelter as temporary as possible. We know it’s not the best situation for the animals, it’s much better for them to be in a home. But we also need the space for when things like [the county taking in 37 dogs at once] happen,” she relayed.

Causey also pointed out that not only does Animal Services have dogs and cats for adoption, other animals such as pigs, ducks, horses, and the occasional exotic pet like a bearded dragon have been available for adoption as well.