More than 100 small dogs rescued from a Lompoc residence on Thursday by Santa Barbara County Animal Services are en route to their eventual forever homes via various rescue organizations.
Animal Services staff said they had investigated a hoarding situation and by the Thursday, representatives had seized 104 dogs — and they saw that number climb overnight when one delivered three puppies.
That number will rise even higher after staff determined two other dogs, which also will remain at the Santa Maria shelter, likely will give birth soon.
Animal Services staff remained mum about the address or conditions in the Lompoc home, saying only that the investigation into the circumstance was continuing.
The owner relinquished legal custody of the dogs, according to a statement from the Animal Services division.
Even as Animal Services staff impounded the dogs, a network of other animal organizations stepped up to help Santa Barbara County house, treat and eventually find forever homes for the rescued animals.
The rescue began when a good Samaritan alerted authorities to a single-family residence in Lompoc that possibly had a large number of dogs.
“They initially said maybe 20 dogs,” said Animal Services Director Angela Yates, who was recently hired for the job.
As Thursday stretched on, Animal Services representatives realized the number actually was much higher, Yates said.
“As the number of dogs started climbing yesterday you get a sinking feeling in your stomach because the volume is so high,” Yates said.
Most of the dogs are Chihuahua and Chihuahua mixes, according to Yates.
“Given the circumstances of that many dogs living in an inside residences, they were in remarkably good shape,” she said. “That and the fact they were small and they were social were huge wins.
“Any one of those factors could have changed the outcome, so that made the job so much easier and it made so much easier for our partners to be able to step up immediately.”
The rescue involved a team of 18 — 15 Animal Services staff members and three volunteers— who worked late into the night.
“It was a very, very long day,” Yates said. “Because once you start impounding, it’s not like you can stop.”
Responders used horse trailers to load the large number of crates in order to transport the dogs to the Santa Maria shelter on Foster Road.
Other Animal Services personnel remained in Santa Maria prepping kennels, readying vaccinations and other chores.
“Our whole team just rolled it out so smoothly. That was just one of the most remarkable things, to handle that many animals in a relatively short amount of time,” Yates said.
“It was one of the most remarkable experiences that I’ve had in 20 years of doing this work,” said Yates, who took the helm of Animal Services just three weeks ago.
Animal Services leaders reached out to other organizations and received an overwhelming response.
“It was just like Christmas,” Yates said.
Santa Ynez Valley and Santa Barbara Humane Societies took dogs along with Woods Humane Society in San Luis Obispo. Organizations from Ventura County — Animal Services and Humane Society — and a Burbank organization also agreed to pick up some dogs to take to their shelters.
“We had so many groups step up to assist that we could have placed over 200 dogs,” Yates said.
On Friday morning, a steady stream of animal organizations showed up at the Santa Maria shelter to load dogs into vehicles for the trek to shelters in Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and beyond.
“This is really the heartwarming part of the story is the collaboration and teamwork,” Yates said.
Sue Berry, director of operations for Woods Humane Society, said the shelter agreed to help since they currently have room for more dogs.
“It was a no brainer for us to jump in and help,” she said.
Before the dogs are ready for adoption, they will receive some behavioral work and medical care, she added.
“All of these dogs are going to have a chance for a really loving wonderful home — after they’re spayed and neutered,” Yates said.
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
