LAKELAND – In March of last year, three Chihuahuas were pulled out of a Lakeland couple’s home by Polk County Animal Control. The house had been declared unfit, covered in fleas and feces.
Fast forward to today and those same three Chihuahuas are lying comfortably on a couch in the Winter Haven home of Carlton Sanford and his wife, Patricia Brown.
“They’re my kids,” 56-year-old Sanford said. “They don’t even know they’re dogs anymore — they think they’re babies.”
Sanford’s Chihuahuas are three of 184 dogs seized from the home of Bradley and Elizabeth Roden. The couple had acquired so many animals that they could no longer provide proper care for them, and their home sank deeper into disarray. That’s when Animal Control rolled in.
Bradley Roden was eventually sentenced to four years of probation for animal cruelty, and their neighbor and tenant Kristina Brinn, who happened to be an animal control officer, resigned from her post.
Since then, all of the seized dogs have been adopted. The healthier pups went straight into permanent homes, while others went to area agencies for rehabilitation.
It wasn’t unusual at all to see that many dogs of that many types coming in to our facility at once. We work several cases such as this one each year,” Polk County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Carrie Eleazer said in an e-mail. “We also have wonderful relationships with local and state rescue groups, who are always on-hand to help us out when we bring in a large group of animals.”
The Central Florida-based Florida Little Dog Rescue took in 53 of the Miranda Trail dogs. Laurie Johnson, intake director for the group, remembers how they got involved in the case.
“We have been a rescue partner with Polk County Animal Control for four years,” Johnson said. “We got involved because we are a dog rescue, and rescuing dogs is what we do.”
Johnson said the dogs they took in were taken straight to the vet, where they were given their shots, spayed and neutered, and treated for any ailments.
For a while, the dogs were in the care of foster families scattered about the state, but as of six months ago, Johnson says all 53 dogs have found permanent homes.
Sanford is one of many Polk County residents who adopted a Miranda Trail dog straight from the shelter.
“I went down there to get one and I came back with three,” he said.
“And if my wife had walked another two pens down we probably would have taken four!”
Talking to Sanford shows how much he cares about his animals.
On an average day, about seven dogs are adopted from the Polk County Animal Control, but on April 9, 2011, 60 dogs were adopted within 90 minutes of each other.
Valenaia Clayton pulled into the Animal Control parking lot at 5:30 that morning.
“I brought my granddaughter with me to pick out a dog for my grandmother,” Clayton said.
“There was so many people there.”
After more than four hours of waiting, Clayton and her 5-year-old granddaughter filed in to see the dogs, along with an estimated 600 others.
“I let my granddaughter pick the dog,” Clayton said.
“I wanted a little Yorkie, but we got Jack.”
Pages: 1 2
Tags: adopt dogs, Dogs adopted, Dogs Rescued
