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Puppies survive alone in shed

By REBECCA CATALANELLO
Published December 22, 2006

TAMPA - The puppies barely made any noise when they were discovered in a dark garage. Two were alive. One could barely walk.

But the little black and brown dogs, who county officials have named Holly and Noel, might have been the lucky ones of their litter.

At least two others, possibly three, had died. Their carcasses became nourishment for neglected and starving dogs that still survived, Hillsborough County Animal Services spokeswoman Marti Ryan said.

Deputies say Jose Luis Martinez, 47, put the dogs in the shed when his property manager told him he couldn't keep them at his apartment, 13727 Susan Kay Drive, Unit C, in Tampa.

Ryan said they think the 11- to 12-week-old pups, lived in the shed for three to four weeks without any attention. Bones and teeth of dead dogs were found inside.

Martinez, who was a maintenance worker for CPN Property, had access to a shed the company used for storage at 15902 W Lake Burrell Drive, not far from where he lived.

Carolyn Miller, 56, lives a few feet from the shed and was stunned at the discovery Wednesday evening by another maintenance worker.

"I never heard any dogs in there," she said. "If I'd known they were in there, they wouldn't have been in there."

Angel Figueroa, 27, the maintenance worker who worked with Martinez, said he opened the shed's side door, smelled decay, opened a door on the front and saw the puppies.

As they waited for Animal Services to arrive, Miller, a diabetic, and her daughters fed the dogs water through her syringes, since the puppies at first rejected it. They soaked dog food to make it more edible to the weak puppies.

Martinez was being held at Orient Road Jail on $6,000 bail Thursday night, charged with three counts of cruelty to animals.

[Last modified December 21, 2006, 23:44:25]