More than two dozen dogs were removed from a North Carolina home. Authorities say the dogs were part of a breeding operation.
Now the breeders face animal cruelty charges.
Vans full of big dogs and puppies were checked out by a veterinarian after the raid.
It was a joint operation of the Wilson County Sheriff's Office, the humane society, the Wake County SPCA and the Great Dane Rescue Alliance.
"What led to this was just years of complaints from consumers who were getting sick puppies."
State humane society director Kim Alboum says state law does not require inspections.
And complaints weren't enough cause for authorities to step in.
"Unfortunately in North Carolina, we don't have regulations so the sheriff's office had to continually monitor the situation until it got to a point where it was animal cruelty, outright animal cruelty."
The dogs were kept behind a mobile home.
That's where breeders Cyndi and Joe Williams live.
Alboum says the dogs were neglected and in need of veterinary care like a puppy with severely infected feet.
She says some show signs of likely abuse.
"What we saw in this particular facility were a lot of dogs with old and new wounds. We saw a lot of infection, staph, mange. But many of the dogs were just so, they just seemed broken."
Alboum says local rescue groups have taken in many of the breeding dogs the breeders have dumped over the years.
