20 border collies rescued from ‘deplorable’ conditions in Florida home: MCSO

PALM CITY, Fla. - A Florida woman faces dozens of criminal charges after deputies executed a search warrant and rescued at least 20 border collies trapped inside a filthy home.

Martin County animal cruelty raid

What we know:

Martin County deputies and animal control officers breached the door of Paige O'Donnell’s home on Tuesday after she refused to open it. Investigators reported finding a severely deteriorated interior with damaged furniture, missing drywall and 20 border collies covered in feces.

Sheriff John Budensiek said O'Donnell progressively built a wooden fence system with a barred gate to wall off the neighborhood over recent years. Investigators conducted days of surveillance and negotiated a surrender of one malnourished dog last week before securing the search warrant.

The rescued animals were taken to the Humane Society for medical care and cleaning. O'Donnell faces 20 felony counts of animal cruelty and 20 misdemeanor counts of improper confinement, with additional charges expected as search efforts continue.

Border collie rescue operation

What we don't know:

Officials do not know the total number of dogs remaining inside the home because animals were still hiding during the search.

Deputies have not determined if any dead animals are located beneath the stacks of floor-to-ceiling debris inside the garage and house.

The backstory:

The Martin County Sheriff's Office first received calls about O'Donnell in 2020 when she worked as an AKC breeder. Officers assessed her animals in 2020 and noted reasonable conditions, though she was later physically taken for alcohol treatment under the Marchman Act a few years ago.

A complaint in 2025 and a recent local news report prompted renewed surveillance by the agency's Animal Services Unit.

"So, days of surveillance out here, days of trying to negotiate with Paige, meaning we kept trying to get her to let us come look at the animals. She wouldn't do it, but she agreed last week to surrender one of the dogs to us. So, she met one of our, after standing us up several times, she met one of our animal control officers and our corporal and surrendered a dog," the sheriff explained. "The dog was in reasonable health but seemed to be a little bit malnourished and you could clearly tell the dog had been recently bathed and given a haircut or a hair trim, however you say that properly. But still, you could tell where the hair was matted and the dog had not been properly cared for. In conjunction with the surveillance, which at one point our detectives could see her open the garage and you can see that it looks clearly like it's been described as she's hoarding; there's stuff stacked, floor to ceiling in there. Between the surveillance and the neighborhood complaints and her bringing us the dog, we were able to get a search warrant for the house."

What they're saying:

Budensiek said when deputies executed the search warrant, they had to breach the door because O’Donnell would not open it. He said the deputies found the house deteriorated with a foot and a half of drywall missing, furniture destroyed and animals in deplorable conditions.

"The food bowls, the water bowls in there are covered in feces," the sheriff said. "The animals themselves, the dogs, which are supposed to be border crawlies, beautiful dogs, are covered with feces, they're supposed to white and black dogs and they're solid black from the feces so our animal control and our detectives behind us have been trying to catch these dogs, take them to the Humane Society where they can get the proper care that they deserve, get them cleaned and Paige right now is going to face two charges for every single animal that we recover out of this house."

He added, "We're at 20 dogs right now that I know of. I know it's hard to believe. That house is not that big. They still are not exactly sure how many dogs are in there. So we know we have 20 that we've already taken out. So, it's two charges per dog. We're 40 right this second."

"She was actually taking a bath this morning when our units arrived here to take her into custody," Budenseik said. "So, she was clean, but the dogs that she's supposed to be taking care of are in deplorable condition.

"I'm sad for the dogs," Budenseik shared. "I'm sad that they live like that for a period of time and then anger. Anger really pops to the surface first for me because she knew better. She knew what she was doing and there's multiple people that have tried to help her. The Humane Society tried to help her. DCF tried to help her. Martin County Sheriff's Office tried to help her. Not only did she deny the help, but she... On purpose kept these dogs trapped in this jail that she has behind us and abused them for lack of a better word."

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