Complaints about Kimberly Savino’s dogs prompted multiple visits from Kent County Animal Control last year, with no evidence of animal cruelty. But officers last week took 39 dogs into custody at the Kent County Animal Shelter.
“We did execute a search warrant on Friday at a home in Grand Rapids and we did take 39 dogs that mostly were found in unsanitary conditions,” said Lisa LaPlante, spokeswoman for the Kent County Health Department. “The investigation is continuing.”
Savino in July 2013 moved in with her aunt and uncle and brought 37 dogs with her, according to animal control reports. She’s a pet groomer who takes in abandoned dogs, the reports state.
But a pet-sitter Savino hired and then fired last year filed a cruelty complaint in November, saying that the dogs are left in crates as much as 23 hours per day. While animal control officers initially found no evidence of cruelty, that opinion apparently has changed.
“I have an impeccable record with my animals and I’ve been put in a bad situation,” Savino said by phone. “It was supposed to be temporary. I didn’t want to have the dogs here for as long as they have.”
Savino referred further comment to her attorney, who did not immediately respond to a call for comment.
Savino has 39 licensed dogs, according to 61st District Court records. There’s nothing illegal about that in Grand Rapids, which – unlike most area cities – has no limit on the number of dogs someone can keep in their home
But the city in January did ticket the owner of the home at Oakwood and Comstock Boulevard NE where Savino is keeping the dogs, claiming she violated zoning code by operating a kennel in a residential zone. A court magistrate agreed, and Susan Strotheide was fined $1,260.
Strotheide has appealed and a hearing before District Judge Michael Christensen is scheduled Wednesday, July 23.
“A dining room…that has been gated and houses five or six dogs, even if in crates, is no longer a dining room. It has become a ‘kennel,’” court magistrate Fred Hartley wrote in a March 20 ruling.
County animal control officers visited the Oakwood home multiple times in 2013 after the complaint by Renee Miles, the pet-sitter who got fired by Savino. They found gates and plastic dividers around the house to keep groups of dogs separate.
In addition to Savino’s dogs, the homeowners have two dogs and seven cats.
Still, “the smell of urine or feces was noticeable, but not overpowering,” Kent County Animal Control Supervisor Joe Dainelis wrote in a report on one of his November visits to the home. The dogs and cats all appeared to be healthy.
“I told Kimberly that there did not appear to be animal cruelty violations that I could charge at this point,” Dainelis wrote about a Nov. 14 visit. “But this is a very high volume of animals and if constant work is not performed by the three people of the residence, conditions could get bad very quickly.”
Grand Rapids could not cite Savino for having lots of dogs, since there’s no limit in city code. But the city did try to build a case for a zoning violation: a code compliance officer in January noted that the home “doesn’t necessarily fit cleanly into the definition of a kennel,” but made multiple trips to the home that month “so I can bring (the city attorney’s office) as tight of a case as possible,” according to court records.
The Creston Neighborhood Association held a meeting last week to talk about a possible limit on the number of dogs allowed in a Grand Rapids residence.
“The neighbors would like the city to set a number on the amount of dogs a single-family house can have,” said Mac Brown, the association’s community organizer. “The neighbors around there have experienced the nuisance of barking dogs.
"You put 50 dogs in one house, you’re going to have issues with noise."
Kimberly Savino’s dogs - A list of her licensed dogs, by breed
• Terrier, 6
• Welsh Corgi, 5
• Bichon Frise, 3
• Chinese crested dog, 2
• Cocker Spaniel, 2
• Great Pyrenees, 2
• Labrador, 2
• Poodle, 2
• Australian shepherd, 1
• Belgian Malinois, 1
• Belgian Tervuren, 1
• Chihuahua, 1
• Dachshund, 1
• Dalmatian, 1
• English Setter, 1
• Keeshond, 1
• Labradoodle, 1
• Maltese, 1
• Papillion, 1
• Pekingese, 1
• Pug, 1
• Rhodesian Ridgeback, 1
• Shetland Sheepdog, 1
Source: Kent County Animal Control
(MLive - July 2, 2014)
No comments:
Post a Comment