NCHS co-president Lynn Albrecht, right, holds Peanut, one of 25 dogs seized from a Wells property on July 12. Jodie the dog, left, is being held by her new adoptive owner.

First, it was a litter of seven puppies from a property in Blue Earth; all of which have found their forever homes. Now, New Chances Humane Society (NCHS) has its hands full with a much bigger group of dogs – 25 of them, to be exact, all seized from the same property in Wells on July 12. But as NCHS co-president Crystal’ynn Rilea’s records show, this isn’t the first time dogs have been picked up from this particular address.

“The first time we were called out to this particular property in Wells was in January 2025,” Rilea recalls. “We were called out to pick up just one dog, but when we arrived, we were asked if we could take 10 instead. We ended up taking a total of nine dogs that day.”

Now, over a year and a half later, NCHS has seized a total of 36 dogs from the property. Nine from the original call in Jan. 2025, a Cane Corso, a pit bull, and now a collection of 25 dogs of various breeds including Chihuahuas, Bichon Frise, Havanese, and wirehair terriers; consisting of 21 adults, two dogs in the 8-10 month range, and 2 puppies.

“It’s like a revolving door around here, sometimes,” Rilea admits. “We finish dealing with one emergency, and five more emergencies pop up. We’ve reached out to as many other shelters as we can to try and lighten our load, but all of the shelters are full right now. It’s a problem for everyone.”

While the exact circumstances surrounding the Wells property and its owner are not fully known at this time, what is known is that all of the dogs picked up from the property were well-loved by their owner prior to being seized by NCHS.

“I’m not sure why the property owner has so many dogs, but it’s very clear that he loves them all dearly,” Rilea explains. “All of the dogs we’ve picked up have been very well fed, even bordering on obese. The owner has cried every single time we’ve come to pick up more dogs. I’ve never seen someone so distraught when giving up an animal.”

While food has never been a concern for any of the dogs rescued from the Wells property, their living conditions are another matter entirely. As Rilea describes, all of the dogs were being kept in four pop-up kennels, with no visible food or water bowls anywhere. Furthermore, the basement walls were lined with five-gallon buckets of water, creating an incredibly hot and humid environment with very little airflow or ventilation.

“The property owner doesn’t speak English very well, but he told me once that these dogs have never seen the sun and never felt grass,” Rilea shares. “It’s heartbreaking to think that these dogs have spent their entire lives in a basement, never being allowed outside to run around.”

All 25 dogs are now being held by NCHS, and have received grooming to help remove the matted fur and overgrown nails they arrived with. All of the dogs are also scheduled for vaccination and spaying/neutering appointments throughout the month of August. But this unexpected influx of animals has also created a massive strain on NCHS, both for their staff and their finances.

“We need more space,” NCHS co-president Lynn Albrecht notes. “Our current shelter just isn’t big enough for the amount of animals that have been coming in, especially not for an emergency like this.”

“We’d love to expand the shelter, but NCHS hasn’t been in operation long enough to qualify for some of the loans and grants that would help us pay for it,” Rilea adds. “We’ve been at the Blue Earth Community Market every weekend, and have added more adoption dates throughout the month of August, but that means we’re spending more on fuel. We really have to pick and choose what we can afford right now.”

Space is also an issue when considering kennel contracts, which NCHS currently has with both the city of Blue Earth and the City of Wells. Under their current contract, the city of Wells pays $350 a month to reserve one kennel space, which must be provided by NCHS. However, if the shelter is at maximum capacity, NCHS reserves the right to deny any additional animals brought in.

“The city of Wells is aware that this is an ongoing issue, and we have been working with both the Wells Police Department and with the Minnesota Federated Humane Society to build a case against the property owner,” Rilea reports. “I also know that the owner was in jail for a little while, and the judge ruled that he cannot own any animals on his property, but this is still very much an ongoing case.”

Despite the immense strain that this influx of dogs has brought to NCHS, progress is slowly but surely being made. One of the dogs has already found a foster home, and many more volunteers have been helping out at the shelter since June.

“We are incredibly grateful to the community for the amount of support we have received over the last few months,” Rilea shares. “The hope is that we can find all of these dogs foster homes, or get them adopted, but in the meantime we have a lot more work to do.”