The dog was in the locked garage when officers arrived July 13 to evict two young men from a foreclosed house in the 11200 block of Worth Avenue. Finding that the men had moved out, officers posted an eviction notice and called the animal control department to remove the dog, according to the sheriff's department.
But last week, Frank Shuftan, a spokesman for County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, denied that such a call was placed, saying in an email to the Daily Southtown that Animal Control double checked its call log for that day after the Southtown story appeared and found no record of such a call from sheriff's police.
But the sheriff's department released a tape of a July 13 call in which a woman is clearly heard saying, "Cook County Animal Control, may I help you?" A sheriff's officer then says, "Cook County Sheriff's Police calling" and that there's "a dog to picked up from an eviction" and giving the address in Worth.
"It's a German Shepherd in the garage," the officer says, giving the name and phone number of the receiver, the person representing the bank, who would be waiting for animal control at the garage.
Animal control apparently never sent anyone to the house. The next day, a next-door neighbor heard the dog barking, saw the eviction notice and that the men had moved out and called Worth police to free the dog from the garage.
Shuftan said Tuesday that he heard the recording of the phone call and that an internal investigation is underway at animal control to determine why there's no record of the sheriff's officer's call being made. Asked if animal control dropped the ball, he said, "I respect the question, but I can't comment on something that's under investigation."
Sheriff's department spokeswoman Sophia Ansari said the July 13 recording is proof that a call was made to animal control about the dog in the garage.
Ansari said the residents who were evicted could not take the dog with them, and contacted a relative who was unable to help with the dog.
"So (the officer) called animal control and left information about the receiver, who is either an agent for the landlord or the bank or whoever is taking possession of the property, and has to be on site for the eviction to be enforced," she said. "... From what I understand, we did everything correctly."
Worth police took the dog to the Animal Welfare League in Chicago Ridge, where it has recovered from kennel cough, whip worms and hook worms, the shelter's director, Linda Estrada, said.
"The dog will soon be up for adoption," she said
(Chicago Tribune - Aug 5, 2015)
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