Decomposing dogs in abandoned Detroit home create nightmare for neighbors

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Dogs were left chained in the summer heat to die at a home on Detroit's west side. 

They were covered in maggots and fleas, as they had been decomposing since at least Sunday, at a house on Vicksburg Street.

"The smell is terrible," said Angelia McCurrie, who lives next door and tried to save the dogs.

However, she says her calls fell on deaf ears despite her making about "four or five (calls) a day for about a month."

McCurie first tried the Humane Society.

"They came out, said they can't go on the premises because it was private-owned or something like that," she said.

Then, she reached out to the Detroit Police Department. 

"They told me that there was nothing they could do – someone needed to drag the dogs to the front, so someone could pick them up," McCurie said. "I don’t know if they expected me to do that, but I’m not doing it."

The frustrated neighbor then called the City of Detroit, who left the owner a ticket. 

Animal Control left another ticket.

But the dogs stayed there, decaying. The homeowner has not been seen by neighbors for at least a month.

"It’s just a mess. You go to work every day, you go through the avenues to get things handled like you’re supposed to – and still nothing," McCurie said. "I don’t know what they expect me to do – their job? I don’t know, I’m just baffled."

With nowhere else to turn, McCurie called FOX 2. And shortly after we arrived, so did Humane Society officers and Animal Control – who were disgusted by what they saw.

The Humane Society officers said they had to suit up in hazmat suits to remove the dogs. The area was infested with fleas and maggots, and the dogs were so badly decomposed, officers were worried they'd break apart just by moving them.

"Why did nobody come and get these dogs way before they died?" McCurie said. "And they (were) informed way before (that) the dogs were not being fed and drinking anything? I don’t understand that."

McCurie hopes the city will do a welfare check on the owner and take care of the severe flea infestation left by the dogs.

The City of Detroit said in a statement that this is a terrible case of owner neglect; they attempted to make contact with the owner but were unsuccessful. 

"We now understand the owner lives elsewhere and leaves the dogs here," the director of Detroit's general services department, Crystal Perkins, said in a statement.

The case has been turned over to Detroit police for a possible criminal investigation.

FOX 2 tried calling the homeowner too, but could not reach them.