More than two dozen dogs were rescued from a Long Island home after they were found in what officials called “deplorable conditions.”
Suffolk County police and the local SPCA responded to the home on Richland Blvd. in Bay Shore after a 911 call came in about barking dogs Tuesday morning.
Responding officers arrived to find an “unkempt…hoarding situation,” with dogs hiding both inside and outside the home. Authorities were forced to dissemble the back deck in order to rescue some of the pups that were beneath, according to the Strong Island Animal Rescue League, who assisted with the efforts.
Inside the home, officials found “feces, garbage, urine-soaked floors, fly infestation, dead and alive,” said SPCA chief Roy Gross during a news conference Thursday.
“The conditions were deplorable, some of the worst we have ever seen,” the rescue league added.
The home was deemed uninhabitable due to “extremely high levels of ammonia” from the urine and feces. Fearing an explosion could occur, officials cut the utilities to the property.
Around 25 dogs, believed to have been left alone for several days, were rescued and being treated in the SPCA’s mobile home hospital set up outside the Islip Animal Shelter. When healthy, they will likely be put up for adoption.
Homeowner Robin Mills was not at the residence at the time. She later claimed in an interview with News 12 Long Island that the dogs belonged to a friend who asked if she could temporarily watch them “two weeks ago.”
But neighbors told the outlet that dogs were being hoarded in the home for years. In 2017, Mills was reportedly convicted on multiple counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty for neglecting 21 dogs and a bird at the same house.
It was unclear on Thursday if Mills would face any charges in connection to the latest incident.
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