ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Orange County Animal Services is asking for community support after they seized the largest number of dogs from a home so far this year.
Animal services announced Thursday they seized 23 dogs and two cats from a home related to an Orange County Sheriff’s Office criminal case.
OCAS said they will hold the dogs for an indefinite period and are asking for the community’s help to adopt and foster animals in their care.
“Yesterday alone we took in a total of 85 pets, 45 of which were dogs,” said Diane Summers, Manager for Orange County Animal Services. “This has overwhelmed our shelter and to accommodate these dogs we need people to step forward willing to help care for our existing, available shelter pets. We need adopters and we need foster parents.”
The shelter is offering promotions through the end of August to encourage people to adopt.
Teacher’s Pet: Employees of Florida schools can adopt a pet for free by showing their workplace identification card.
Gold Medal Favorite: To celebrate the Paris Olympics, pets that have been in the shelter for more than four weeks will have a gold sticker on their kennel cards, and their adoption fee will be reduced to $10.
OCAS also wants to remind people of the importance of reporting animal cruelty and neglect. Animal Services Officers have assisted law enforcement with 170 investigations so far this year, resulting in 407 animal impounds.
“Almost every one of these cases started because someone was brave enough to pick up the phone and make an anonymous report,” said Summers. “We want to say thank you to those individuals, because their one action made all the difference for these pets in immediate harm’s way.”
Reports can be made anonymously through Orange County’s 3-1-1 or through Crimeline.
The shelter is open daily across from the Mall of Millenia.