Desperate Dogs Left Trapped In Garage Of Abandoned Home In Foreclosure; County Animal Control Officials Show Little Interest, Says Neighbor

In Anne Arundel County, Maryland, Investigative Voice reports:

• The driveway is littered with an empty cigarette pack and toys. A garden hose sits at the ready, tools nearby. For all intents and purposes, the home on Oakwood Drive in Anne Arundel County looks occupied.

• But from a garage with boarded-over windows, the sound of howling dogs fills the air. Trapped animals left behind. Neighbors say three dogs have been locked inside the dilapidated garage for at least a week and a half without food or water after the occupants of the home left, the result of a foreclosure. Through a cracked window the dogs bark, and growl, desperate it seems, to be released.

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• “What’s really distressing is how the people who should take the most interest in this have responded,” said Jenn Rosowski, another nearby resident who fosters stray animals and has been coordinating efforts to free the dogs. Her efforts to get county officials to intervene again have been rebuffed. “She was actually really rude,” Rosowski said of the Animal Control agent who discussed the case with her. “These are innocent animals, they need help.”

For more, see Cruel Intentions — Anne Arundel residents want to free dogs left behind, trapped in garage (Animal Control Office Shows Little Interest).

In a follow-up story, see Maryland Gazette: No charges to be filed in 'abandoned' dog case (Police, animal lovers disagree on what constitutes proper care):

• [W]hile the animals were heavily infested with fleas and living amid large piles of excrement, the head of the county's Animal Control unit noted that the property's absentee owners had laid out food and water for the dogs.

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• Animal lovers - some of whom broke into the garage yesterday and freed the dogs after reading about their plight on several online message boards and blogs - blasted the county's decision not to file charges against Patricia Strickland or even seize the animals. They argued the conditions inside the garage were deplorable. [... N]eighbors registered anonymous complaints with Animal Control. Then the story hit the Internet, and it all "mushroomed into hysteria," [Lt. Glenn] Shanahan said.