50 dogs rescued from home after man dies

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Florida police called to a Palm Beach Gardens home to check on a resident made a tragic discovery.

Law enforcement and Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control forced their way into a home on Monday for a welfare check. Inside, they found the body of the man who lived there, surrounded by 50 dogs.

Susan Tobias has been the man's next-door neighbor for 30 years. "The policeman said that he could not take a step without stepping on urine or feces," Tobias told WPBF. "My husband passed away so I've been dealing with that loss and his husband passed away so we kind of bonded with that and kind of helped each other when we were having bad days."

She said she had no idea he had 50 dogs. Other neighbors say they never saw him walk the dogs at all.

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The dogs were pulled from the home and are now in the care of the Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League. "We've done initial exams of the dogs. We've identified some serious dental issues, skin issues, and some of the dogs have cataracts in their eyes," said Rich Anderson.

Some of the dogs are one-week-old puppies, others are more than 12 years old. They will be getting full exams to check for more serious health issues. "They all look pretty good. Some of them are a little bit more timid than others, but we really feel good about them getting healthy and being able to be adopted in the weeks ahead," said Anderson.

The dogs' owner has been identified as Charles Clark, 56. Police do not suspect foul play in his death.

CNN/WPBF