About 131 animals were rescued from an illegal puppy mill in Union County, according to officials. 

The Scotch Plains police chief says officers went to the home on the corner of Terrill Road and Laurie Court after receiving an anonymous call.

"There were bedrooms with cats in cages, and then you'd open a closet door and there was a litter of newborn kittens with their mom," says

Union County Acting Prosecutor Lyndsay Ruotolo. "And then in the basement you had almost a hundred animals down there.”

Ruotolo says there were sound boarding panels put into the home to soundproof the rooms.

The animals were taken to 13 shelters and nearly 40 animals were taken to St. Hubert's Animal Welfare Center in Madison.

 

Members of the community interested in adopting any of the pets are invited to contact the shelter nearest to them: