The owners of 32 dogs, all pitbull mixes, voluntarily surrendered the dogs to Manatee County Animal Services Wednesday afternoon.

Animal control officers said they had warned the couple once before but this time, they said, they had to do something for the safety of these dogs.

Most of the dogs are doing fine, although some of them are a little malnourished.

The focus now, animal control officers said, is on the owners and why they had so many dogs in the first place.

Most of the dogs are in cages, including one of the mothers who is now separated from her puppies. Six of those puppies had already been put in foster homes.

"We were actually in the area doing a sweep," said Joel Richmond of Manatee County Animal Services. The neighborhood was in an unincorporated part of the country where they had been just a week earlier when they warned the owners they had too many dogs but on Wednesday afternoon, they told Bay News 9 they say they had to do something.

"She didn't have the proper housing for all the animals she had and she had the potential to become overwhelmed real quick," said Richmond.

So before they became too overwhelmed, the owners took the option of giving up the dogs voluntarily.

But what was the reason all of the dogs were in that house in the first place?

Richmond said, “The dogs were being used a breeding stock.”

Animal control said they weren’t sure how many puppies had been sold before this. What animal control did find out that having that many dogs was even too much for them.

"We had to get creative and find some space for them but luckily we were able to make some room," said Richmond.

They’re hoping that’s only temporary. They want to find the dogs good homes as soon as they can.

All of the dogs are up for adoption. If you’d like to adopt, you can call Manatee County Animal Services at (941) 742-5933.

As far as this case is concerned, there is no limit to the number of dogs a person can have in Manatee County.