Over 50 dogs rescued from rural Collier home

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Multiple dogs were kept in these enclosures in unsanitary conditions. Photo via Collier County Domestic Animal Services.

GOLDEN GATE ESTATES, Fla. Collier County Domestic Animal Services confiscated 53 dogs from a home at 19320 Immokalee Road, county officials said.

The DAS received an anonymous call May 25 reporting that several dogs appeared to be living in poor conditions at the home, according to county officials.

Homeowner Leo Pantoja showed several enclosures in a steel building at the back of the property to an officer who showed up May 26. Each enclosure housed multiple dogs in “heinous” conditions, many of them with matted hair covering their eyes and deformed teeth, county officials said. One dog was pregnant.

The Collier County Sheriff’s Office and the DAS took the dogs to the DAS shelter on Davis Boulevard for medical treatment. Five dogs that are nursing mothers are now at the Gulf Coast Humane Society.

Two of the dogs were returned to Pantoja, since they were his personal dogs, county officials said.

Pantoja was cited for inhumane treatment of animals, his first such offense, and fined $257. He’ll also be forced to pay for their rehabilitation and adoption costs, bringing his total bill to nearly $10,000.

The DAS is holding a special adoption for the dogs Saturday, starting at noon at their shelter on 7610 Davis Blvd.

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