HALL COUNTY, Ga. -- A Hall County woman has been charged with 12 counts of cruelty to animals after officials found dogs feeding off other dog carcasses in her back yard.

Police said they responded to a home on Candler Highway after discovering several small dogs running loose on the roadway Wednesday. Officials identified the dogs as belonging to Branda Nell Adams, 56, of Gainesville.

Authorities said they found a dog pen in Adams’ back yard with three dog carcasses in it along with other dogs inside it. The surviving dogs appeared to have been feeding off the carcasses, according to Hall County Sheriff’s Office deputies.

Officers noted there was not an adequate food supply and a very small amount of dirty water provided to the dogs. The dogs appeared to be skinny, starved and dehydrated, according to officials on the scene.

Inside a separate cage, officers found two rabbits with no food or water. They also appeared to be starved and dehydrated.

Adams was charged with 12 counts of cruelty to animals. Hall County Animal Control officers took the surviving animals into their care.

Adams was also charged with 12 counts of unsanitary conditions, five violations of the leash law and three counts of failure to dispose of an animal corpse.

The incident is still under investigation.