BENTON - Forty cats and an unknown number of dogs died in a late night fire that destroyed the Franklin County Animal Control facility on the outskirts of Benton Monday.

A passer-by reported the fire just after 10:30 p.m. By the time sheriff's deputies and firefighters arrived at the facility, flames were shooting through the metal roof and the office portion of the building had collapsed, said Franklin County Sheriff's Deputy Steven Overturf.

Despite the extreme heat of the fire, many animals were pulled from the burning building, said animal control supervisor Jarrett Broy.

"If not for the deputies and the firefighters going in there, we would have lost a lot more," Broy said. "(Lt. Richard) Veldman of the sheriff's department ran in with some of the firefighters who were first on scene. They had bolt cutters and started letting all the dogs out of the cages and pulling cats out from the back of the facility. When I got here there were dogs running everywhere."

At least 30 dogs were corralled into a fenced-in area of the pound, while 15 to 20 cats, their fur wet from the firefighters' efforts, were huddled in cages placed near the building.

One kitten, just a few weeks old, managed to escape from the cage where its mother and seven littermates were later discovered dead.

"It's awful. I just hate it," Broy said.

Firefighters from Ewing-Northern Fire Protection District and the Benton Fire Department fought the fire until early this morning. Cause of fire was unknown and a Ewing-Northern spokesman said he would likely call in the state fire marshal's office to help with the investigation.

The now-gutted facility was just a few years old and was constructed with funding provided by donations.

"After all those years we worked to get a new building and now this," Broy said. "I don't know what will happen now."