107 Hoarded Dogs Arrive in Twin Cities

GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. - More than 100 dogs have arrived at shelters in the Twin Cities metro after they were rescued from filthy, overcrowded conditions near Bemidji, Minn.

Animal Humane Society agents were called to assist Beltrami County authorities after they learned 107 dogs and two cats were living in dirty conditions and many were malnourished. Investigators believe it was a hoarding case.

SLIDESHOW: See More of the Rescued Dogs

Investigators picked up the animals from northern Minnesota on Thursday afternoon and evaluations of the dogs were underway Friday at multiple locations.

"Everything from little dogs to big dogs and the good old American mixed breeds," said Deb Balzer, with the Animal Humane Society in Golden Valley. "It doesn't look like a puppy mill. We think perhaps it was a hoarding (case)."

Blazer said AHS prepared a sort of triage system, weighing and number each dog and getting them the proper medications.

Over the next week to 10 days, all the dogs and two cats will make their way to the adoption floor and onto the shelter's website . Eventually, they could make their way to other shelter locations.

"Our goal is to get them healthy, happy and ready to go home," Balzer said.

Many of the dogs seized are smaller breeds, mixes of pugs, chihuahuas, daschunds and spaniels -- which explains how so many lived in such small spaces. Two women, ages 59 and 63, kept the dogs in the two mobile homes they lived in. The trailers have since been condemned.

In addition to the pets found in the hoarding home, the shelter will also take in another 75 dogs from a separate rescue group that needed help; however, this is not the shelter's largest intake. Previously, they accepted 250 dogs at once.