Police on Monday raided an unlicensed puppy mill in Clewiston, Fla. that prioritizes profits over the welfare of the puppies under their care, and the owners of the dog breeding facility have been arrested.
Forty-six-year-old Beatriz Perez and 47-year-old Alexei Fernandez have been charged with counts of cruelty to animals. Police discovered in their facility, located on Avenue Del Club, that the dogs have been living in dirty pens without clean water or food, according to The Canada Journal.
Authorities investigated the premises for half a year.
"We've worked with people who have come in and made some [undercover] buys, or been able to just offer up photos or information about what was going on," Hendry County Sheriff spokesperson Susan Harrelle said, according to The Inquisitr.
The puppies were sold to pet stores all over the Miami-Dade area. Members of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) rescued the dogs.
"This is an unlicensed, substandard breeding facility," ASPCA Field Investigator Tim Rickey said, ABC News reported.
ICYMI: We've rescued nearly 100 #dogs from a puppy mill in #Florida. https://t.co/Xz6QuXinIB pic.twitter.com/x8tZvcrmBR
— ASPCA (@ASPCA) November 17, 2015
Brossard County has also taken in 45 of the rescued dogs from the mill.
"Their whole purpose in life was to breed, create puppies, then they were either sold online or sent to pet stores all over South Florida," Broward Humane Society's Cherie Wachter said, according to CBS Miami.
Most of the dogs that were rescued also suffered from a variety of medical problems such as skin and eye diseases and extreme dental complications, NBC Miami reported.
