Behind the Scenes of a 47 Animal Cruelty Rescue in Brazoria County

Special Projects Manager Greg Hall was part of a massive, multi-organization rescue effort, saving 47 animals from a cruelty situation. This is his experience:

On Monday, January 26, 2026, I was asked if I wanted to go and assist with the transport of some pigs from Sweeny, TX. I agreed to go without many questions. As we got closer to the site, I learned that this was a situation where the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office would serve a warrant before we entered the property, due to an animal cruelty situation. I also learned that there were cats and dogs of an unknown number, and that we would try and capture the cats as well, while Brazoria County Animal Control collected the dogs. 

 

Upon arrival, it became clear to me that this was a larger operation than I knew. I myself was there to do a job, so I tried to put my blinders on to the rest, and focus on my first task: capturing the cats. Over the course of an hour, we were able to collect 8 cats, which wasn’t too difficult since they were running to us to try and get fed. The cats were friendly, but emaciated, and didn’t resist capture. My blinders were wearing off now and I was seeing what was around me.

 

I moved on and rejoined the team to assist with the pigs’ rescue, which was just getting underway. It was at this point that I entered the rest of this “complex” and saw the totality of what we faced. There were many adult dogs chained to trees near a group of approximately 20 dilapidated travel trailers, some of which seemed to be inhabited by the owners of the dogs, cats, and pigs. Near these camper shells, there were a couple of pens with dogs in them, neither of which had doors. The pens were wired shut with no obvious entrances. This said to me that these animals were placed into pens and that was probably the last time they tasted freedom of any kind. All the dogs were either chained to trees, old rusted-out trailers, or in pens without an obvious point of entry. Since Brazoria County Animal Control was handling dogs, I didn’t spend much time with them, but I did take the time to stop and comfort some of the more frantic ones who were friendly. I didn’t get the feeling that these dogs got much attention or food, and I can’t fathom that the property owners felt love for them. (Note: There were a total of 31 dogs rescued.)

 

Over the course of the rest of the day, I worked alongside Aaron Grady, Richard Perez and Greg Evans to capture the pigs. In the end we recovered 8 pigs, all of which were emaciated and extremely defensive; also, all of them were kept in tiny pens that were constructed of rustedold sheet metal, pallets, and baling wire. There were no doors to these pens. The water provided to the pigs was stagnant and stank. There was no evidence of food and very little evidence of feces in the pens. Based on the rest of what I saw, it wasn’t good animal husbandry that kept the pens clean, but rather a lack of food altogether.

 

It was a team effort to remove them from the pens, and the conditions were more than a little dangerous. HHS staff worked hard, alongside the Brazoria County Sheriff's deputies and Animal Control Officers, to remove a multitude of animals from a situation in which they would have all eventually perished from neglect or starvation. The pigs seemed very grateful when I recently visited them. One we named Debra is as friendly as a pet dog, and while the rest are still a little skittish, they were wagging their tails and eating with obvious delight.

 

I am proud that HHS and the officials at Brazoria County got all those animals out of there.

 

Learn about Texas’ animal cruelty laws and how to report suspected abuse and neglect.

 

Donate directly to our Animal Cruelty Task Force.