Bastrop County Animal Control officials are calling it the largest seizure of dogs in the shelter’s history.

On Tuesday, shelter director Troy Walters said animal control officers had seized a total of 164 dogs since last week, including a dozen dogs seized in March, from the property of a middle-age couple in Cedar Creek.

“I’m pretty sure it’s the largest seizure of animals in the history of this shelter,” Walters said.

Shelter officers had visited the property in mid-March, but did not realize there were so many more dogs there, Walters said.

“On March 11, we took 12 of the dogs from the property and they kept four,” Walters said of the couple. But there were few clues that more dogs were there, he added.

“Most of the dogs were horded inside the house,” Walters said. “We didn’t smell anything from the outside of the home and we didn’t hear any dog noises when we first visited the property. We were shocked when we saw the number of animals inside when we returned,” Walters said.

Walters said shelter personnel responded to a call last week from the couple.

“The people called to surrender the dogs – we did not have to get a warrant,” Walters said. “They just knew they couldn’t feed the dogs anymore.”

An investigation is continuing, but no arrests or charges have been filed, Walters said. The Bastrop shelter operates under the auspices of the Bastrop County Sheriff’s Office.

Rhonda Simank, one of the first animal control officers on the scene said, “There was just a massive amount of dogs when we opened the front door. It was very shocking,” Simank said.

She took a photo of several dozen dogs peering up and greeting her as she entered the home.

Despite piles of dung in places and evidence of malnourishment, sores and matted fur among some of the dogs, Walters said no dead animals were found and overall, the damage to dogs did not seem extreme to the point of critical condition, although many of them were in bad shape.

“These dogs have some malnourishment, but they are not skin and bones,” Walters said. “All these dogs are real sweet. They would run to the woman when she called them.”

Walters said Bastrop staff contacted the Austin Humane Society because there is no room for the dogs at the Bastrop shelter. He said he had also contacted a Houston shelter, but they had no room.

AHS Executive Director Frances Jonon on Tuesday said the rescue effort had doubled the animal population of the shelter.

She added that the temporary housing of the dogs at the humane society shelter at 124 W. Anderson Lane in Austin has placed “a large financial burden” on the shelter. They are asking for donations of money, wire crates of medium, large and extra large sizes and towels for cleaning.

The shelter also set up an emergency pet shelter in its auditorium where staff and volunteers were cleaning up the dogs.