LAKEWOOD -- A 34-year-old woman will likely face four counts of animal cruelty charges for allegedly admitting to drowning four puppies in her toilet tank after her landlord said she couldn't have them, the Pierce County Prosecutor's Office said.



Police were called to the woman's home Monday by her landlord, the prosecutor's office said, saying he found four dead pitbull puppies in a Pedigree dog food bag. The bag also contained a sign that said Puppies $50 OBO.



Once on the scene, police allegedly found the bag containing four wet, dead puppies. The woman's landlord told police that when the woman and her young son moved into the building, she had two adult dogs and six puppies. The landlord -- who claimed he allowed the woman to move in because she did not want her young son on the street --said he told the woman to get rid of the dogs because he didn't want that many animals in a unit.



The landlord later allegedly spotted the woman going into the bathroom with the puppies and when she came out she talked to her son.



"If I didn't kill them the animal shelter would anyways," the mother allegedly told the young boy, court documents state. "Now it's just you and me."



The woman allegedly admitted to police she drowned four of the puppies in her toilet tank -- named Growler, Luky, Loki Jr. and Mamas Boy -- and giving two others to friends. She told police she killed them because she was sure if she took them to an animal shelter they would euthanize the pups.



The woman allegedly wrote a statement, saying she did not kill the puppies for "glee or pleasure," but instead because she thought she had no other choice, and assumed they would be killed at the shelter.



A necropsy is slated to be performed on the puppies and the State may add an aggravate of deliberate cruelty after the necropsy result.



She is slated to make her first appearance in court at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.