TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – After 60 dogs were seized from a Tallahassee pet rescue owner’s property last month, more than 30 pigs were also seized from her second property, according to a Leon County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson.
Thirty-three pigs were seized Saturday from Judy Du Bois’ second property, which the LCSO’s spokesperson said is located along Sparrow Road. That’s the same road where the 60 dogs were confiscated last month after being found in muddy cages during a welfare check.
The news comes after Du Bois was arrested last week for animal cruelty charges related to the seized dogs. A judge granted the Tallahassee woman a $5,000 bond Friday in her first court appearance. The judge also ordered that she could not have any animals in her control.
The confiscations of animals from Du Bois’ properties resulted in an influx of more than 100 dogs at the Tallahassee Animal Service (TAS) Center. The shelter put out an urgent plea asking for foster parents Friday, saying they would receive 50 more dogs that day. Sources confirmed to WCTV that the sudden need was caused by TAS receiving animals confiscated from Du Bois’ rescue.
TAS Director Erika Leckington said that although the shelter received the influx of dogs last week, the animals have not been officially surrendered by Du Bois. The courts will decide if those dogs will be returned to their owner, euthanized or put up for adoption, according to the TAS director. For now, it means the shelter is in a holding pattern, preventing staff from putting the pups up for adoption.
It’s pushing the limits for the already-full shelter.
Leckington said the shelter has procedures to help when they reach maximum capacity, but they’re only a temporary fix.
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“The next step is either potentially co-housing dogs that might have come in together that weren’t actually in a kennel together, sometimes we group puppies together if that’s possible and of course, we reach out to our foster parents and see if they can take any additional animals on,” the director said.
She also said that the biggest priority for TAS is finding a home for the dogs that are being displaced as they make room for more.
“The increase that we’ve seen on a couple of occasions now over the last month has really strained our resources quite a bit. We’ve been very fortunate with fosters and volunteers and even with adopters. We had a great adoption weekend, but we still have so many more animals to adopt out at this point,” she said.
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