OKLAHOMA CITY – A southeast OKC drug bust turned into an unexpected night of animal wrangling and rescue as police discovered more than 500 animals in what is likely the largest case of animal hoarding in Oklahoma City history.
Late Thursday night, police approached a residence near SE 15th St. and S. High Ave. on a search warrant for potential drug trafficking when they discovered hundreds of animals, including nearly 50 dogs, a horse, and over 400 birds, all kept in various stalls and structures around the property.
OKC police have said that four people were arrested in the bust and booked on drug trafficking complaints, but none have been officially charged yet and the animal hoarding wasn’t mentioned in the bookings.
Those arrested include 40-year-old Luis Gayton and 37-year-old Ail Lopez, both suspected residents of the house where the animals were found.
Brock Rowe, director of Development Services for OKC, which oversees Oklahoma City Animal Welfare, said that the rescued animals are still being processed at the City’s Animal Welfare Facility, which was already struggling with capacity even before this sudden influx.
“Staff worked all night, they really did care,” Rowe told press in a brief conference Friday morning at City Hall. “I’m so very proud of my staff. They were phenomenal with what they did, and we’re looking forward to finding new homes for all these animals.”
Likely the largest animal seizure ever for OKC
Not only were the seized animals still being processed by late Friday morning, they were still being counted, with Rowe saying the final number was yet to be determined, but was already over 520.
“I don’t know the actual number if this is the highest ever,” he said, “but I would assume it probably is.”
Rowe said that there was no immediate evidence of cockfighting or widespread abuse of the animals, saying that they all appeared to be relatively healthy and housed across multiple structures, but that they were all still being considered evidence in an ongoing investigation.
“We kept discovering more animals,” he said. “When we first got there, there were a lot of outdoor animals that kind of ran off into the woods, like peacocks and things like that, so we had to come back to get those. We just kept looking, and we found more animals.”
Adoption event already planned
With the City-run animal shelter in southeast OKC already struggling with space and reportedly over capacity for dogs even before receiving these 500+ new animals, the shelter has been forced to shut down all further intake of pets and strays while they work to process and manage this unprecedented situation.
Luckily, the shelter was already planning a large-scale dog adoption event for this weekend, hoping to reduce the strain on the facility by offering dogs in a “choose your own adoption fee” event, letting prospective pet parents pay as little as they’d like or as much as they can to support the shelter.
Now that event is suddenly more important than ever.
“When we’re at capacity with dogs, that’s roughly about 300 dogs, so anytime we get more than 300, we’re in a critical state,” said OKC Animal Welfare Administrative Specialist Crystal Slocum. “We are nearing almost 400 dogs right now, so we need to move at least 150 dogs between today and Saturday.”
That’s a tall order for such a short timeframe, but Slocum is confident that the residents of OKC will step up to help out through adoptions and foster efforts.
“We have a lot of confidence in our community,” she said. “There’s a lot of caring people in Oklahoma, and they greatly care about their animals. So, whenever we put a plea out for help, we’re hopeful that we’ll get as many out there into homes as we need.”
Brett Fieldcamp is the owner and Editor in Chief of Oklahoma City Free Press. He has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for nearly two decades and served as Arts & Entertainment Editor before purchasing the company from founder Brett Dickerson in 2026.
He is also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.
