Officials seize 35 animals from southeast Cedar Rapids home

CEDAR RAPID S – Thirty-five animals were seized from a Cedar Rapids house Thursday evening because of unsanitary conditions, officials said.

Animal Control officers and police took 32 dogs, two cats and a parrot from the home of Jennifer L. Wood, 36, at 308 30

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St. Dr. SE. The dogs ranged in size from Great Pyrenees to Dachshund, authorities said.

Wood has not yet been charged, pending an inspection of the animals this weekend.

This is at least the third time Wood has had animals seized from her residences in Cedar Rapids. In 1999, when she was known as Jennifer Hicks, officers took 118 animals from her home at 1260 Houston Ct. NE, according to Gazette archives. The animals taken included 43 cats, 16 dogs, 15 cockatiels, 14 domestic rats, six turtles, five lizards, four frogs, three hamsters, three gerbils, two guinea pigs, three mice, two rabbits and two ferrets.

Two years earlier, Wood had 16 cats, 11 dogs and four rabbits taken from her home by animal control.

No charges were filed against Wood, but in an agreement with city after the 1999 seizure, she promised not to house more than six animals in a Cedar Rapids residence.

Wood owns an animal shelter and pet shop called The Puppy Playground, at 85 North Center Point Rd., No. 70, in Hiawatha. Just last week, police and a state inspector found 60 dogs and 29 cats in unsanitary conditions inside the strip mall business, officials said.

Inspector Stephanie Black found extreme crowding and inadequate ventilation that led to an “overwhelming urine smell.”

“Sanitation especially lacking in grooming area, where strays are housed alongside animals of grooming clients,” Black wrote in the report. “Tub area unclean. Sanitation very concerning. Electrical cord hazards.”

Dustin Vande Hoef, spokesman for the Iowa Department of Agriculture, said Wood agreed this week to give up the animals. Wood told the inspector she would continue to operate Puppy Playground only as a pet grooming business, Vande Hoef said.

“We'll still work with her to make sure she does follow through,” Vande Hoef said.

A sign on the door to the business Friday said it would be closed because Wood was sick.

Vande Hoef said thorough background checks are not conducted on people who apply for a license to operate an animal welfare facility. He said the two-page application only asks if the person has been convicted of animal abuse or neglect or if they have ever had their license to care for animals revoked.

Vande Hoef was unsure if officials were aware of the previous animal seizures at Wood's residences, and was unable to access her application Friday.

Animals taken from Wood's home Thursday were taken to the Cedar Rapids Animal Shelter. As a result, the shelter shut down Friday through the holiday weekend to process all the animals.

“With the seizure of 32 dogs, we have doubled our maximum holding capacity at the shelter,” said Diane Webber, who heads the city's Animal Control and Care division. “Situations like this put a huge burden on both staff and financial resources for the shelter.”