MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. – A Merritt Island woman was arrested this week after a puppy mill was discovered on her property in “horrific” conditions, according to the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office.
On Wednesday, Sheriff Wayne Ivey explained that a Rockledge police officer first tipped him off last month about the woman — Elisabeth Cleveland, 36 — over claims of animal abuse.
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“What we found is that she’s actually operating a puppy mill. And I’m going to tell you: the conditions here are horrific,” Ivey said. “When our team started looking into this, what we found is that there were over 20 complaints dating back as far as 2016.”
During the investigation, deputies went to three locations across Merritt Island and Cocoa, though Cleveland and her spouse would “stonewall” investigators each time, Ivey added.
“They would basically tell us to go to hell, that we weren’t coming on the property. We weren’t going to be allowed to examine the property,” he said.
However, one of the three locations deputies investigated — an address along Mustang Lane in Cocoa — is a commercial property, allowing deputies to gain an inspection warrant, according to investigators.
After deputies searched that property, they discovered that the dogs were left out in the heat, their food dishes contained vomit, and their water pails were filled with mold, algae and tadpoles, Ivey explained.
The only cover the dogs had were some doghouses, which reached over 100 degrees inside, the sheriff’s office said. Dogs also suffered various maladies, including open wounds, broken legs and eye infections.
On Wednesday, deputies went to one of Cleveland’s properties with a search warrant and another warrant for her arrest.
But when deputies got there, they found out that the home had wires and electricity “running everywhere,” creating major hazards, according to the sheriff.
Ivey said that Cleveland had been practicing her own veterinarian medicine, and she had been giving injectables to dogs — one of which had even been euthanized by Cleveland.
The dogs were also living under the floorboards, he explained.
“What she was doing was breeding the dogs at the Mustang Lane location. When they were found to be ready to deliver their litter, she would bring them here,” Ivey said. “She told us, ‘All I’m required to do is give them shelter, food and water.’”
Ivey said there were at least a couple of dogs that deputies weren’t sure were going to survive.
Even more dogs were found at Cleveland’s home, living in similarly dire conditions, Ivey claimed.
“One of them are standing in a puddle of water. That’s where they’re living at — in a puddle of water,” he said. “We couldn’t even tell what type of dogs they were because the water was so deep and the conditions therein.”
The sheriff’s office further explained that Cleveland was running her puppy mill online at Curio Kennel on Weebly. Ivey asked that members of the public not buy any more animals through her website.
A portion of the website’s “About Us” sections reads as follows:
“Our number of breeds and dogs has now expanded considerably as we have come to know and love many more unique breeds of dogs. Our dogs are not kenneled or caged. They are either kept inside or allowed to be outside in groups in big fenced in areas of our yard. The only time kennels or pens are ever used in our home are when a dog is nursing with puppies to give her an area that we can be sure she is left alone by other dogs.
Every pregnant or nursing mom is kept in the house, usually in our room, so that they are sure to be given around the clock extra care. Your puppy from us will come to you presocialized, with registration paperwork, first shots, and will be healthy and happy. We are confident in the fact that our selective breeding will produce healthy puppies with good genes.”
Curio Kennel on Weebly, "About Us"
Cleveland faces 134 counts of animal cruelty, ranging from misdemeanors to felonies.
She was released on Friday on a bond of $259,000.
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