Eighteen dogs were removed from a single property in Coachella this week and taken to a San Diego rescue group as Riverside County’s animal shelters grapple with what officials describe as a critical and worsening overcrowding crisis.

The Riverside County Department of Animal Services said its field services team responded Wednesday after a property owner reported she had been feeding the dogs for more than a month but could no longer care for them. Officers collected the animals and brought them to the Western Riverside County/City Animal Shelter before transferring them the same day to Amazing Dogs Rescue in San Diego. The rescue organization also accepted 12 additional dogs from the county’s shelter system.

“With over 1,000 dogs across the shelter system there is an urgent need for pu

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