Paige O\u2019Donnell has relinquished the 36 Border Collies rescued from her Palm City home, the Humane Society of the Treasure Coast confirmed with WFLX on Friday, clearing the way for the dogs to be adopted or fostered once they are healthy enough.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Donnell faces 72 charges in what the Humane Society of the Treasure Coast calls the worst animal hoarding case it has ever seen. The dogs were rescued from her hoarded home in Palm City earlier this month. A WFLX investigation helped renew the sheriff\u2019s office probe into the case.<\/p>\n
Deputies found the dogs living in deplorable conditions, with fur matted with feces and debris. Court documents show O\u2019Donnell exhibited deceptive behavior during the investigation, blaming strong odors on \u201cmissed trash collection\u201d and \u201cold seafood.\u201d<\/p>\n
The rescued Border Collies are now undergoing what shelter staff call \u201cmedical grooming,\u201d a process that involves carefully shaving severely matted fur while checking for injuries and infections underneath.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe shaved 9 pounds off of one dog filled with feces and urine,\u201d Sarah Fisher, spokesperson for the Humane Society of the Treasure Coast, said.<\/p>\n
Fisher previously told WPTV that some dogs arrived with metal and glass fragments trapped in their fur. During the initial rescue, she said staff found \u201clots of pieces of metal \u2014 rusted metal, sharp metal \u2014 that have been stuck in their fur, along with shards of glass.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Humane Society of the Treasure Coast says many of the rescued animals are already beginning to heal.<\/p>\n
Cesar Perea, associate vice president of rescue for American Humane Society, said the emotional and physical recovery process for animals often begins quickly once they are removed from dangerous conditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs soon as you start providing care, you immediately start to see the animal\u2019s personality come out,\u201d Perea said. \u201cWhen they were in that situation, they were completely shut down.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perea said trauma in rescued animals can appear as emotional shutdown, inactivity and fear, but he has seen dramatic turnarounds in many hoarding cases across the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithin two weeks, you wouldn\u2019t even recognize that animal,\u201d Perea said. \u201cThey start getting a little more active and joyful. They start behaving like the pets that they\u2019re meant to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perea said animal hoarding can still qualify as criminal neglect under the law when animals are denied proper veterinary care, food or safe living conditions. He said communities should watch for several warning signs that animal hoarding may be occurring nearby.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe smell will probably be your first indicator,\u201d Perea said. \u201cIf you see a lot of animals, more animals than you usually see people having as pets, that\u2019s also a big indicator.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perea said the situation can escalate when people feel compassion for animals but lack the resources to properly care for them.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt becomes overwhelming very quickly when people feel that compassion to want to help animals, but then they don\u2019t have the resources or the ability to continue to manage and provide a level of care that\u2019s acceptable,\u201d Perea said.<\/p>\n
The case has prompted legislative action from State Rep. Meg Weinberger, R-Palm Beach Gardens, who is pushing for a mandatory dog breeder registry in Florida following the Palm City rescue.<\/p>\n
The Humane Society of the Treasure Coast is encouraging the public to adopt or foster available animals while the rescued border collies continue receiving treatment and rehabilitation. The shelter is also asking for donations to its emergency medical fund or through its Amazon Wish List.<\/p>\n
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paige O\u2019Donnell has relinquished the 36 Border Collies rescued from her Palm City home, the Humane Society of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":["post-377622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}