The Pike County Prosecutor's Office says that's because they cannot prove the owner had the intent of leaving the animals in that condition while he was away at the hospital.
Officials say the 33 dogs were found living in deplorable conditions. Two of the dogs had to be euthanized. The remaining 31 are in the care of the Vanderburgh Humane Society.
The Humane Society's Executive Director Kendall Paul says they were contacted by a neighbor who found the dogs living in terrible conditions.
The neighbor told the humane society the owner of the animals had been in the hospital for about two weeks and that she and a few others were trying to help feed the animals. During this time, the neighbor believed the animals' living conditions had greatly deteriorated.
When the VHS and Pike County Sheriff's Deputies arrived on the property, the dogs were found to be living in feces.
Authorities say the remains of at least one dog were found in a pen with other animals. They say the skeletal remains indicated the other dogs may have been eating the remains due to lack of food.
"In addition to the lack of food and the emaciated animals, the wounds that were on the animals, we also had, of the 33 that we removed, 14 of those animals tested positive for heartworms," said Kendall.
"That's obviously not something that happened within the last two weeks. You're talking about a lot of medical attention that there animals are going to need to be able to get them into a condition where they're hopefully, we'll be able to find them a new home."
VHS is demanding Pike County Law Enforcement and the prosecutor's office will work out an agreement with the owner so this does not happen again.
(WFIE - Mar 8, 2014)
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