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Investigation: Dire Dog Pounds
Reported by Ray Sayah
Web produced by Jennifer DiDomenico



One state investigation of Detroit Animal Control found a dead dog in a cage, and a pit bull with fur and flesh missing from a large part of its back.
Video


Among Michigan's animal population they are the unwanted, the unlucky, the abandoned - dogs and cats, puppies and kittens with perhaps days to live, living those days in area animal shelters.

In a hidden camera investigation, Action News found that too often, area shelters mistreat their animals.

"I even saw a dead cat," remembers Michael Wilk, who visited a shelter.

Some shelters allow animals to live in their own waste, in conditions that violate state law.

We took our hidden video to Dr. Steven Halstead at the Michigan Department of Agriculture.
Part of his job is to oversee the state's animal shelters.

"Well, the things I saw are things we'd be interested in addressing," Dr. Halstead said after viewing our video.

At the Sumpter Township Shelter in Belleville, our hidden camera captured an outdoor dog pen covered with feces, and an animal control officer who liked to back up dogs by hosing them down.

"We would tell them that's not acceptable," Dr. Halstead advises.

In Lincoln Park, we found a broken furnace and cages used for storage space, instead of for cats.

Dr. Halstead commented that overcrowding in the cat cages could be remedied by using that storage space as it was intended.

We also found cracked concrete and chipped paint, both breeding grounds for parasites and bacteria.

All these conditions violate state law, but our investigation found that nowhere were conditions worse than Detroit Animal Control.

Karen Dombrowski is head of the Feline Friends Rescue League. Just two weeks ago, Karen says she went to Detroit Animal Control to adopt a cat, only to find her so dehydrated that she could not stand.

Karen says inside the shelter she saw other sick and injured animals, even a dead cat left unattended in a cage.

Through witness accounts and state inspection reports, Action News found it's not unusual to find sick and dead animals in cages at the Detroit Shelter.

Linda Kuhn says she found several when she went to the shelter in June, and it took her weeks to get over it. "They were laying in cages there were several laying dead in cages," she remembers.

In a state inspection report dated July 14th,
inspector Nancy Barr paints a graphic picture of what she found at the shelter. In cage 200, a dead dog with bloody diarrhea nearby, with no records of medical treatment. In cage 204, a bloody pit bull missing fur and flesh on 75-percent of its back left unattended. In another area, an emaciated puppy with no food.

"We need to get animals out of there at any cost," Karen Dombrowski says.

Detroit Animal Control called Action News late Thursday to say that an Animal Control Advisory was being set up, and reported that aggressive efforts would be made to fix things at the shelter.

Officials at Sumpter Township Shelter did respond with a telephone call. They said they're doing the best they can with limited resources. In response to the officer spraying the dogs, officials said it's better than jamming them with a stick.


The Lincoln Park Shelter had the most positive response to our concerns, with a new furnace and promises to seal the cracks and chipped paint.

Despite what inspection reports describe as dire circumstances in Detroit and poor conditions at other area shelters, the state hasn't stepped up inspections. Instead, it has cut them down.

"No, it's not ideal for us or for animals," Dr. Halstead says, "it unfortunately is reality