Search resumes at home where dead dogs and cats found

A worker with the Streets and Sanitation Department disposes of a dead dog found in a house at 8225 S. Rhodes Avenue in the Chatham neighborhood. Another dog was placed inside a bag at right. (Alex Garcia/Tribune)

City workers returned to a vacant Chatham bungalow this morning, combing through debris and disposing two more dead animals that apparently had been abandoned by a tenant.

Police officers were called to the home in the 8200 block of South Rhodes Avenue Tuesday night and found two dead cats, two dead dogs and four severely malnourished dogs. Police were flagged down by neighbors because of the stench coming from the home.

"It was horrific, it was really terrible," said Pat Edwards, a neighbor. "There was a stench, that's what brought our attention to it. There was an overpowering stench."

Police discovered four live dogs suffering from malnutrition and dehydration inside the vacant house, said Chicago police News Affairs Ron Gaines. Animal Care and Control officers were called to the scene to take them to a shelter for treatment.

Edwards said she saw police pull out a Doberman Pinscher, a pit bull, a Chihuahua, and what appeared to be a shih tzu.

Also found were the remains of two other dogs and two cats, believed to have died of malnutrition and dehydration, Gaines said.

Edwards said that she last noticed a woman at the home about a month ago, but other neighbors told police that the renters last occupied the home as long as four months ago. She said the Doberman was found inside a garage alone.

Authorities confirmed the dogs and cats were without food and water.

Neighbors flagged down the passing officers who went into the home with flashlights and found the animals, Edwards said. She said she noticed an electric light in the basement that appeared to be on a timer.

"They were awesome, the pulled over and stayed for hours," Edwards said of the police who responded in the evening.

Edwards said she would notice the dogs looking out of the windows of the home and barking. She said the dogs appeared to be in good health and that the female owner of the dogs would show up from time to time. Other neighbors said they saw swarms of flies around the door.

"You could just tell from the smell that something was going on,'' Edwards said.

Edwards said neighbors claimed that the home might be in foreclosure, but that could not be confirmed. The woman who last lived in the home appeared to take care of the animals.

"She was the type of person who would bring them out in the yard...she seemed to have a very good handle on it, she took very good care of them from what we could see," Edwards said.

Authorities found excrement and trash littering the home. Investigators fear there might be more dead animals in the home but have suspended their investigation for the evening, officials said.

"It was really horrible," Edwards said. "One they brought was really malnourished, you could see his bones."

Bill McCaffrey, a spokesman for the Chicago Department of Buildings, said inspectors from his department would examine the residence this morning. He said the department had received no complaints about the residence.

Officers with the Chicago Police Department and Animal Care and Control stand outside a home on the 8200 block of South Rhodes Avenue Tuesday evening where two dogs and two cats were found dead. Four malnourished dogs also were found. (Chris Salata/for the Chicago Tribune)