Members of local rescue groups have worked for hours to secure and treat 26 dogs they found on a property along Waterloo Road near Millstadt.
Heather Bishop of Bishop’s Small Dog Rescue visited the house Friday, Feb. 14 and enlisted the help of Vicki Lehares of Found a Hound Rescue.
The pair described a scene of freezing temperatures, dozens of free-running dogs, and sick, dying and flea-ridden animals lying in doghouses and enclosures on Sunday, Feb. 16. Several dogs and puppies were found dead from exposure and lack of care, in addition to a cat that had to be euthanized at Hawthorn Animal Hospital in Glen Carbon.
One dog was found eating its own deceased puppy.
“I’ve never seen anything like that and I’ve been doing this for 13 years,” Bishop said in a committee meeting for the St. Clair County Board on Monday, Feb. 24.
Concern about the property and animals spread on a community Facebook group while some nearby residents said in Facebook posts that the dogs were “well taken care of.”
“This situation was absolutely not under control,” said Lehares. “These were conditions I’ve never seen and hope to never see again.”
The home belongs to two brothers, one of whom died recently.
Rescuers said a state-appointed person with power of attorney who helped release the animals would occasionally show up to drop off food for the animals in the brothers’ absence.
Rescuers say the problem has been going on for “years” and their calls to authorities were largely ignored.
More than anything, rescuers want to know why their calls to animal control had gone unheeded for so long. Both Bishop and Lehares said they called authorities “a handful of times,” only to “essentially be laughed at.” Once, Bishop was told it was the Department of Agriculture’s responsibility, she said.
“I just want to know why a tax-funded organization couldn’t help fix this horrible situation but a group of five volunteers could,” Bishop said.
St. Clair County Animal Services officials cite lack of capacity
Ashley Jett and Eddie Johnson, director and assistant director of St. Clair Animal Services, respectively, say it wasn’t negligence that kept them from helping the animals but lack of capacity at their facilities.
“We are always at full capacity,” Jett said in an interview. “We’re already doing so much more than we’re legally required. It can’t all be on animal control. At what point does it stop being an owner’s responsibility to take care of their animals and fall on animal control?”
Johnson said he went to the property on Feb. 10 to investigate and found that the dogs were fed and not in critical condition. Still, with temperatures dropping, he wanted to find a place for the dogs to go inside, but couldn’t contact the owners in time to rescue them when he returned to the property on Feb. 13.
“When I went there, there were no dead dogs,” Johnson said, “They were taken care of and everything seemed fine, their coats seemed pretty OK. The weather was bad, but we can’t just force people to take their dogs inside so there was nothing we could do. It’s just a bad situation.”
But, Sue Schultz, a lawyer who works pro bono with Lost Paws Trapping, argued that animal control had the authority to intervene. She cited the Illinois Humane Care for Animals Act, which states that authorities have the right to step in and seize animals if the owner is neglecting them or providing inadequate care.
“When the owners can’t correct the situation, it’s up to law enforcement and animal services to take control,” Schultz said. “Hopefully this isn’t St. Clair’s standard of compassion for animals.”
“Talk about passing the buck,” added Nick Bishop, who co-runs Bishop Small Dog Rescue. “There’s a whole group of people who want to help but no one can figure it out? It’s a community issue. We all need to understand the new laws and we need to work together to get these animals the care they need.”
But animal services say the problem is more complicated than that.
“We only had two calls in the past year and the others must have gone to the police,” Jett said. “The police and animal control don’t exchange calls so there’s no way we knew. We show up to work every day and do the best we can and all we want is to care for the county’s animals.”
All parties involved agreed that at least part of the solution to preventing a similar problem in the future is educating the public on how to handle and report lost dogs. The rescue groups say they would like to see more networking and community outreach on behalf of the animal services, especially since space is so limited at the tax-funded shelter.
“We aren’t a 501(C) who can fundraise, so we really need to rely on our partners to help get these animals into homes,” Jett said
Jett also said that even a small addition to the facility has a chance to overburden the department. There were 14 intakes in February as of the committee meeting and only 43 kennels in the shelter, she said.
Johnson highlighted the scope of the organization’s responsibilities.
“We cover all of St. Clair County. That’s East St. Louis, O’Fallon, everywhere in the county. We have to deal with everyone,” Johnson said. “When does it stop being the owner’s responsibility?”
St. Clair County is building a new shelter
A new animal services building is currently being built near the intersection of South 74th Street and Illinois 15 in Belleville, and while Jett and Johnson say they’re happy for the improved care and increased visibility of the location, they still have doubts about future availability.
“We’ll still have to care for all of the county’s animals,” Jett said, “What we really need are more partners and education for owners. A new facility won’t help.”
“That new facility costs, what, $10 million?” Nick Bishop said after the committee meeting, “That’s a lot of money to not help.”
St. Clair County Buildings Director Jim Brede said in January that the total price for the new animal services building will be between $11 million and $12 million.
The county’s current shelter is at 1250 S. 11th St. in Belleville.
For now, four of the dogs are at Ruby’s Rescue, six are at Found a Hound, and the remaining 16 remain at Bishop Small Dog Rescue. Adoptions will open soon, but for now you can donate to the dogs recovery at Found a Hound on PayPal and Bishop Small Dog Rescue on PayPal.
Editor's note: This story was originally published by the Belleville News-Democrat. Joshua Carter is a photojournalist and reporter for the Belleville News-Democrat, a news partner of St. Louis Public Radio.
