Two people were injured and dozens of dogs were killed in an early morning house fire in Dallas.
It happened just before 4 a.m. in the 400 block of Grandview Avenue.
Dallas firefighters were called to a house fire with reports of people trapped inside.
Firefighters rescued a man and woman. The man suffered burns to his hands and was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital, the woman had smoke inhalation and was transported to Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas. Both are expected to recover.
Firefighters discovered more than 70 dogs in the home but, according to Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesman Jason Evans, at least 53 of them died.
Firefighters administered oxygen to the dogs and animal services took custody of the dogs.
Of the dogs that were rescued from the fire, all 16 are expected to survive, Jones said.
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The nearly 70 dogs that lived in the house were all family pets - wire hair chihuahua/terrier mixes - and there was no evidence that the people in the house were running a puppy mill or a dog breeding business, according to Dallas Animal Services.
"But sometimes what happens is people have unneutered pets in their homes, and they care greatly and deeply for them, and they have a litter, and then that litter has a litter," said Jody Jones, manager of Dallas Animal Services.
The maximum number of dogs allowed to be in a house with less than half an acre of property, as with the house in question, is six, Jones said.
The owners, who are each recovering from injuries suffered in the fire, might be forced to pay a fine that could range up to $5,000 because of the excessive number of dogs they owned, according to Jones, but it is also within Dallas Animal Services' power to assign educational classes as a form of correction.
Investigators are still searching for the cause of the blaze.
NBC 5's Ben Russell contributed to this report.
