() Over a dozen staff members are hospitalized, and 75 dogs and cats are displaced after the FBI conducted a drug burn of seized meth at an animal shelter in Billings, Montana, on Wednesday.

Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter, in a statement, said that the smoke was coming from a contained but malfunctioning burn in the incinerator on its property.

“I can firmly and confidently say that, as the Executive Director, I did not know that they were disposing of extremely dangerous narcotics onsite,” said Triniti Halverson, Executive Director of Yellowstone Valley Animal Center.

“When the smoke started pouring out of one of our feline isolation rooms, I instructed staff to put on COVID masks and begin evacuating the animals,” Halverson added.

The shelter added that the incinerator is usually used by animal control to dispose of euthanized animals, but officials informed them it can also be used by law enforcement to burn seized narcotics.

Several staff members exposed to the smoke were taken to the emergency room to combat the effects of smoke inhalation. Meanwhile, the animals impacted were provided temporary housing and veterinary care.

YVAC acknowledged that the building has begun being decontaminated by a restoration team. The process is expected to take two weeks to a month.