Police Find 150 Dead Dogs In Mich. Man's Freezer

DEARBORN, Mich.

Police on Friday found about 150 dead dogs packed in freezers in the basement of a Michigan house littered with feces and trash where more than 110 live dogs, mostly Chihuahuas, were rescued this week.

Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad said the 56-year-old man found Wednesday in the suburban Detroit home with the animals may have been living with an increasing number of dogs for up to three or four years.

"The house was in complete disarray, very cluttered and, with 100-plus dogs running around in there, very filthy," he said.

A criminal investigation was under way at the two-story brick home, Haddad said. He said the case could be forwarded to prosecutors for possible animal-cruelty charges.

Haddad said 112 live dogs had been removed from the home as of Friday, and police believe about five more may be hiding inside. He declined to release details about the breed of the dead dogs.

The man living in the house was taken to a local hospital for observation, and a lawyer acting as family spokesman said he was getting a psychiatric evaluation. Investigators previously said the man apparently was hoarding the dogs.

Neighbors in the past had complained of an odor at the Dearborn home, which had a neatly cut lawn and manicured bushes. But this week was the first time officials got inside, and crews needed masks to breathe.

Trash was piled from floor to ceiling in places, and feces and urine was throughout the home. Forty-two ailing and feces-covered dogs were rescued Wednesday. Crews returned Thursday and found more than 60 dogs, and about 10 more live dogs were found Friday, police said.

The smell, noticeable from the street Thursday and Friday, may have been contained previously because windows were closed and covered.

The rescued dogs were taken to the Dearborn Animal Shelter, where residents brought dog food donations and filled out pet adoption applications.

One local resident dropped off four 20-pound bags of dog food at the shelter.

"It's not much. It's only four bags, but it will feed them today," said Margaret Metas, 81.

(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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...sick...

Wooow.

Poor things :(

This is so horrible and disgusting!!!!!

GOSH. THAT MUST HAVE BEEN A HUGE FREEZER. I DON'T THINK EVEN ONE DOG WOULD FIT INTO MINE, YO - WELL, MAYBE A TINY CHIHUAHUA WOULD FIT IN THE TOP SHELF.

haha only you puck only you...;-D

Wow it's sick that some people actually do that.

I hope all of the living pets find good homes and are taken care of and that none of them die due to conditions they were found in.

disgusting

this disgusts me :(

as disgusting and horriable it is, i feel bad for the man too. usually there are a lot of underlying mental health issues when someone hoards animals like that. i bet that man has a lot of suffering

Very true. It probably wasn't a malicious thing. If dogs aren't fixed, they multiply and he probably got overwhelmed, but didn't want to get rid of the dogs. It's pretty sad. Hopefully the dogs are somewhat socialized and can be adopted out.

the guy obviously has some issues. so it's pretty terrible all round. it's just unfortunate he happened to be hoarding other living creatures and not just junk.

So...his freezer....Did anyone think to check is oven? Was this guy nomming on dogs, or what?

Maybe they were for the local chinese take away, our local one was not only caught serving dogs and cats but also seagulls, yummy stuff!

Now here's the question....was the food good?

I've never eaten there! Not being able to afford takeaways turned out to be a good thing!

haha I've always been curious about that! You hear all the time stories about people "unknowingly" eating chinese food that had cat and dog and whatever else, and I always wondered if they were like, "Damn....you know, it's a shame they closed because that dog lo mein was pretty kick-ass."

Only you hun *facepalm*

I pretty much live next door to this guy. I can see his house from my bedroom window. It's sick.

omg. gross. i am taking care of 9 boxer puppies...and its so hard and such a handful to try and keep my house clean, poop free and smelling nice all day. i cant imagine 100+ dogs!!!!!!!!!!!!!