Fourteen Pit Bulls Found Living In Deplorable Conditions

FLORIDA -- A Delray Beach man faces charges of animal cruelty after investigators discovered 14 pit bulls living in horrid conditions in the backyard of a Boynton Beach home, according to police.

Marcus Dennard Brown, 27, told investigators Wednesday he brought the dogs to his father’s house at 322 NE 11th Ave because he had nowhere else to keep them.

A mother pit bull and eight 5-week-old puppies were confined in a filthy, feces-laden crate with no food or water, Boynton Beach Animal Cruelty Investigator Liz Roehrich said.

 

No animal should suffer like this.

 

The mother looked emaciated and one of the puppies was found dead inside the cage. Another puppy was on its side, unresponsive.

Several other dogs were sitting inside crates filled with their own waste. One of the dogs had a tow chain around its neck and abrasions on its face. Its muzzle was swollen and infected.

“This is a classic case of an individual with more dogs than he has the proper resources to care for,” Roehrich said. “Not only housing, but financially as well.”

 

The dogs were transferred to Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control. The unresponsive puppy was found to be severely suffering and had to be euthanized, Roehrich said.

Another puppy died the next day.

“It was past the point of being able to save the puppy,” said Roehrich. The remaining dogs are receiving nourishment and medical attention.

This is the second time Brown has been a subject of an animal cruelty complaint. On June 2, he was issued multiple citations for unauthorized breeding and poor nourishment.

Brown has not been arrested and charges are pending. He has since relinquished custody of the all the dogs.

According to Roehrich, cases like Brown’s have been common in Boynton Beach because of illegal breeding, which is responsible for exploding the pit bull population.

“Looking to the future, this will mean more dog bites, more cases of neglect and cruelty and more euthanizing,” she said. “This isn’t a dog problem. It’s a people problem.”

Roehrich said she has yet to run into a licensed dog breeder in Boynton Beach.

“The behavior is solely greed based with a profit behind it,” she said. “And our city will not tolerate this behavior.”

(Palm Beach Post - Sept 5, 2014)