FLINT TWP., MI — As police opened the door, more than 60 dogs scattered quickly, running to hide behind furniture already ripped apart for months.
Police say their seizure of more than 90 living and dead animals from a Flint Township home on Tuesday, Feb. 17, wasn’t the first time they’ve found problems and taken dogs from the property.
“Our department has worked with (Genesee County) Animal Control in the past regarding that house,” said township police Lt. Matt VanLente. “We’ve removed dogs in the past and issued citations.”
Police removed 67 animals, including 64 dogs and three cats alive from inside the Elms Road home on Feb. 17.
Officers also took 26 dead dogs and a dead cat from the property while serving a search warrant.
The collection of neglected animals was discovered after complaints about dogs running loose and the noise of barking at the home where they were kept, said Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton.
Leyton said no charges have been filed, but the police investigation is continuing.
He called what officers discovered “one of the worst situations of animal conditions we’ve seen.”
This was the first time Hannah Peterson, social media specialist for Genesee County Animal Control, was physically on scene during the extraction and rescue of this many animals from deplorable conditions.
She said it was both eye-opening and disturbing to be physically present, wearing double masks to try and stave off the overwhelming foul odor as the entire house was overrun by the dogs with feces everywhere.
The floor of the garage wasn’t even visible past one to two inches of matted down feces.
“The smell was very intense. It was absolutely filthy. Ammonia overpowered the home, room to room. It was really hard to breathe. You know, our eyes were burning and watering. It was no joke. They did test the air and the conditions were hazardous as far as ammonia levels,” Peterson said. “There was waste everywhere. There was garbage everywhere.
“It almost felt like a bad dream the next morning. And it was very disturbing just to know that day in and day out, for who knows how long, those animals were living in that. No escape. It’s really sad. It’s heartbreaking. It’s tragic. And this was not something that was an accident. This is not something that happened overnight. This is something that was just wrong and there’s no excuse for it at all.”
Peterson said the dogs were “absolutely terrified.”
The look on their faces will be burned into her brain forever, she said, especially after seeing more than two dozen dead animals in garbage bags on the property.
As the police continued their probe on Wednesday, Feb. 18, Animal Control officials were working to acclimate animals at its shelter on Pasadena Avenue and to find short-term homes for them.
The county is asking those who wish to donate to make contributions to the nonprofit Shelter Animal Donations to assist in the purchase of food, supplies and medical needs for the animals.
Rescue organizations should contact Rescue Coordinator Tammy Beal at 810-618-3871.
VanLente said potential criminal charges are limited and require police to prove various elements of any crime.
The lieutenant said “part of that process is having the dogs (alive and deceased) tested and inspected” in the coming days.
“Those results help prove certain elements of animal abuse, neglect, (or other crimes),” he said. “We want to assure (that) when we present the case to the prosecutor’s office, we have done our due diligence and proved every element of the crime.”
VanLente said the Flint Township Building Department inspected the residence and deemed it uninhabitable.
Jay Parker, Genesee County Animal Control director, said the canines taken from the property appear to have been fed regularly and are mostly small dogs that are scared and adjusting to new surroundings.
Parker said this feels a lot like a hoarding case, and the owners may have gotten “in over their heads.”
“It was disgusting. There was feces everywhere. You couldn’t live in the house by any means,” Parker said. “Basically there was no place for these animals to lay. There was nothing clean in there. There was no place for them to escape any of their own feces unless they possibly went outside, and that was just a mud mess out there.”
Rehabilitation is the next step for more than 60 animals rescued from deplorable conditions in a Flint Township home.
Many are being fostered, while some of the smaller animals are being housed at animal control.
“The horrific part of it’s over for these animals because they’re in a clean environment; they’re being taken care of,“ Parker said. ”They’re scared. They don’t seem to be aggressive, though some of the dogs had bite wounds, likely from fending for their food.
