The NYPD and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) rescued about twenty adult dogs and puppies from “deplorable conditions” inside a small Brooklyn apartment on Thursday.
According to the police report, the urine and feces of the animals was so much that it leaked from the second floor of the apartment to the ceiling of the room of the young children of the owner of the house on the first floor.
Ravon Sevice, 26, and Tafaniel Michaud, 27, are charged with 20 counts of animal husbandry, 20 counts of negligence, two counts of acting detrimentally against a child and one count of reckless behavior.
The raid occurred on E. 94th Street near Avenue A in East Flatbush around 10:30 a.m. Thursday, according to the NYPD.
The uniformed officer said Service attacked the building’s owner, Kennisha Gilbert, shortly before officers arrived at the site and proceeded with her arrest. The defendant would be furious because the landlady changed the locks on the apartment after denouncing the overcrowding of the animals.
Gilbert declared to Daily News that for months she begged the police and the city to help her evict Sevice and rescue the dogs. According to the landlady, officials only acted after posting heartbreaking photos and videos on Twitter.
“I have urine going down my walls. The smell is so unpleasant that I cannot open the windows. I cannot leave the door open. I cannot open the door of my house,” he told the News.
An ASPCA spokeswoman said several of the dogs were crammed into small cages, covered in feces and urine. The apartment is poorly ventilated, so the stench of ammonia flooded the house.
“It was clear that these animals were living in dire conditions and needed to be rescued and brought to safety immediately,” said Howard Lawrence, vice president of ASPCA Humane Law Enforcement.
Gilbert said Service is the son of a couple who moved into the apartment in 2019.
She notified the couple that she was not going to renew their lease due to fighting and other problems, but the eviction moratorium from the pandemic caused them to stay in the apartment.
The couple eventually moved out and Service took their place in January, he explained. Gilbert claimed he filed complaints with 311, then 67th Barracks, and finally City Hall.
“Over time, the neighbors also began to complain: the smell, the flies, the noise,” he said.
The ASPCA tried to enter the apartment during the summer, but the tenants did not open the door.
The NYPD said the department’s Animal Cruelty Investigation Squad launched an investigation in late August.
Gilbert posted a video of the dogs in the cages on social media.
“After a grueling 24-hour shift, I came home and urine was dripping down the wall of my children’s room. New York State likes that my family and abused animals continue to live like this – all in the name of a blanket moratorium on evictions, “he wrote in a post Saturday.
ASPCA officials said the dogs will receive medical attention.
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