Sick Dogs Seized at Kennel in El Monte

More than 200 malnourished and diseased dogs, and six dead ones, were removed Wednesday and Thursday from a kennel in El Monte.

Animal control officers found the remains of some dogs in bags and freezers at Second Time Around for Magnificent Pets, said Kaye Michelson, a spokeswoman for the county Department of Animal Care and Control.

Seventeen of the rescued dogs had been euthanized because of their conditions, she said.

The property owner, Patricia Cravy of Long Beach, was issued a felony citation for animal cruelty and for misdemeanor violations, including keeping animals in unsanitary conditions and not providing veterinary care. She had not been arrested, but the case probably would be forwarded to prosecutors, authorities said.

“These are animals she supposedly rescued, who hopefully would have been placed in new homes,” Michelson said.

Second Time Around’s Web site says it is “a private, no-kill nonprofit rescue and adoption group.” Cravy, it says, “has been rescuing and adopting animals for 37 years, the last 17 in the Long Beach area.”

Officers went to the property in the 2900 block of Durfee Avenue on Wednesday evening after a neighbor complained of the stench. They found dogs crowded into concrete kennels, sitting in their own waste, authorities said.

“When we walked on the property, just to our right were bags upon bags of rotting dog food with flies on them,” said El Monte Police Sgt. Santos Hernandez. “The dogs were going crazy, just barking. It was so deafening; after a while you heard silence.”

Michelson called conditions at the animal shelter “horrible, absolutely horrendous. The animals were kept in just deplorable conditions.”

For two days, dogs were taken to the Baldwin Park Animal Shelter, where they were treated by veterinarians and other staff members, Michelson said. Most of the dogs are young, including some puppies, and a few showed signs of aggression, she said.

Investigators were trying to find out why so many dogs had been kept in such bad conditions, Michelson said. Animal control officials had inspected Second Time Around in January, but investigators did not find nearly as many dogs then, she said.

“We’ve already had calls from people wanting to adopt,” Michelson said. “We’ll put photos of dogs on a Web site (www.animal control.co.la.ca.us) as soon as we get a chance to determine which are adoptable.”

Last week, a Burbank woman was charged with animal cruelty after authorities found 86 dogs stocked in crates at her home. Authorities said Pam Miller was a once-reputable dog rescuer who had begun collecting dogs.