At least 21 puppies have been rescued from a house in Burnside this afternoon.

National Inspectorate Manager Alan Wilson said SPCA inspectors attended a Christchurch address today and executed a search warrant resulting in the removal of all animals at the property.

“During that process, emergency services were called to assist our inspectors and provide support as the environment was initially unsafe.”

Police assisted SPCA staff at the scene.

A business called Rebecca’s Spoodles operates from the address.

The woman who lives at the house breeds puppies to sell.

No one answered when Chris Lynch Media called.

It’s understood to be the same property where firefighters were called to free eight dogs that became locked inside a vehicle several weeks ago.

A person at the scene today said “it looked like a big operation together with two fire engines, traffic control – the street was closed, an SPCA van, and animal ambulances.

Dogs were being carried out of the property.”

Another resident who first raised the alarm with authorities on the weekend about the same house said she was driving along Roydvale Avenue by the City Fitness when she saw three dogs running down the street.

“Cars were swerving to avoid them. I pulled in and ran over to the closest dog which was standing outside a dog grooming house.”

The woman said she called the number on the gate five times but no one replied.

“The windows of the house were open, so it looked like there were people home, but they had padlocked the gate so I couldn’t even get to the front door.

I had a look around and found a hole under the fence they were coming out of and managed to get the first dog back under.

Dad caught the other two and got them under as well. We then put two big rocks in front of the hole to stop them from getting out again.”

The woman said the dogs were in bad shape.

“They were wet and shaking and terrified of us and it sounded like there were at least another ten dogs in the backyard.”

The SPCA is now investigating.