The aging owner of the Brooklyn home where 115 malnourished dogs, five of them dead, were found in squalid conditions refused to let the cops inside her home despite repeated calls by neighbors complaining about the smell and concerns for her welfare, records show.
On Thursday, when the woman’s sister called 911 reporting she had died, cops were finally allowed in — sparking one of the largest animal rescue operations in recent memory.
“She had to die to save her animals,” one Mill Basin neighbor said of Eileen Horn, the 73-year-old retired school psychologist who lived in the small single-family home with her younger sister and dozens of dogs.
“She looked really sick,” the neighbor, who identified herself only as as Ellen, told the Daily News. “We asked for wellness checks. We called 311 and nothing was ever done.”
The city 311 database shows numerous complaints of animal abuse or unsanitary conditions and related complaints at the address going back to 2014. Police responded to each instance, and several times closed the cases, stating they could not enter the residence.
A city Medical Examiner autopsy has been slated to determine how Horn died, officials said.
“(The cops said), ‘If they (the sisters) don’t open the door, there’s nothing we can do,’” Ellen said. “They said they needed a search warrant or if somebody died.”
Neighbors were shocked by what cops found when they entered the home on E. 66th St. near National Drive at 6:30 a.m. Thursday: Horn was discovered dead on the first floor of the dilapidated home, which was teeming with 115 neglected dogs of all sizes, their hair matted with feces and urine. Five were dead.
At least one of the maltreated dogs was giving birth to puppies when animal rescuers were called in. Dogs were found skittering and cowering under piles of trash as they trod through a five-inch high carpet of feces, neighbors said.
“They’re all extremely nervous and tense,” Sean Casey, owner of Sean Casey Animal Rescue, said of the dogs on Friday, as the rescue operation continued. “They’ve probably never seen the outside world. They’re not aggressive or anything like that but they’re all just terrified.”
Some of the long-haired dogs had such badly matted, waste-stained fur that they will have to be given sedatives before vets can begin to shave them.
NYCACC
Police and animal rescue groups went room by room, recovering scores of pooches from the home.
“When long-haired dogs aren’t groomed they start to get matted,” Casey said. “When they urinate, it goes into the hair and it gets soaked up by their body. They were all essentially urine-soaked.”
A vacate order was plastered onto the front door of the home Friday as rescuers continued to remove dogs. The front lawn was strewn with garbage pulled out by first responders.
Colin Mixson / New York Daily News
Rescuers continue to remove dogs from a home on E. 66th St. in Brooklyn on Friday.
Casey’s group, which was able to take in five dogs, is one of several animal rescue organizations that answered the Animal Care Centers of NYC’s call for assistance.
The initial recovery was handled by ACC and the ASPCA.
“In the face of heartbreak, the rescue community rose up,” ACC said on Instagram. “We’re in awe of the outpouring of support following the Brooklyn rescue. From fellow shelters and rescue groups to fosters, transporters, groomers, and donors, you’ve stepped up for these dogs in ways we’ll never forget.”
While not housebroken, the pups are not aggressive, Casey said.
“They will ultimately be very adoptable,” he said. “Once we had them in the shelter, they started to warm up and were seeking attention and things like that.”
On Saturday, ACC posted on Instagram that 68 of the dogs have already gone “to loving homes and safe havens.”
“Our team has faced the unthinkable, but they’ve never stopped fighting for these dogs,” the post added.
Horn’s sister, who is 10 years younger than Horn, hasn’t returned home since her sibling died and is staying at a hotel in Queens, neighbors were told.
Neighbors said the sisters had been living in the home for decades after inheriting it from their parents, who died in the 1960s. The two siblings kept to themselves, rarely interacting with their neighbors. In recent years, they stopped even food shopping in the area and had everything delivered.
Neighbors repeatedly called 311 on Horn. Most of the complaints were about the foul smells coming from her home.
“It used to burn our noses,” neighbor Leeora Bernstein said. “You couldn’t even sit in the backyard to play. I had guests come over one day for a barbecue. I’ll never forget it. It was a summer day — and the smell!”
When the doors and windows were finally opened on Thursday, the smell was far worse than anyone expected.
“The only way to go in there is you get Vicks chest rub, you put it in cotton and you stuff it in your nose,” said one neighbor, who gave his name only as George. “That’s the only way to stay in there. The smell is unbelievable. It smells like skunks.”
“It’s hard to comprehend how anyone could live this way, or how animals could be left in such a state,” the ACC said on Instagram. “But anger alone won’t help these dogs. What will help is action.”
Neighbors were shocked when the 80 dogs were pulled out one by one and placed in dog carriers.
“We didn’t know there was so many,” said Ellen. “We thought maybe 10, you know? But we never could imagine there were so many.”
Last month, the ACC and the ASPCA worked together to recover nearly 50 Malinois dogs that were packed into a cramped, filthy Queens apartment.
Members of the NYPD Animal Cruelty Squad hit the dogs’ owner, Isaak Yadgarov, 37, with 48 counts of cruelty to animals and 48 counts of neglecting an impounded animal — one for each maltreated pooch, officials said.
Anyone interested in adopting any of the Mill Basin dogs should visit the ACC website at www.nycacc.org.
