MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – An investigation into illegal dumping on a property in southwest Miami-Dade’s rural Redland area Thursday led officers to discover 30 dogs living in disturbing conditions, according to police.
Harry S. Nelson, 65, the tenant of the property, faces 30 felony animal cruelty charges, plus three misdemeanor dumping and environmental charges.
According to the Miami-Dade Police Department, investigators were tipped off that the property, located at 15600 SW 172nd Ave., zoned for agricultural purposes, had been illegally “used to accept solid waste as a resource recovery and management facility.”
Open-source aerial photography led officers to determine that the property had become overgrown with piles of debris, police said.
After obtaining a search warrant, police said officers discovered more than illegal dumping.
Police said officers found dogs “covered with insects (and) fecal material,” some of which had “noticeable signs of disease and injury.”
According to an arrest report, officers found 13 dogs, nine adults and four puppies, living in a “dilapidated” double-wide trailer covered in urine, feces, blood and vomit.
“The odor of urine and feces was so strong within the trailer that (I) began gaging (sic), and the strong noxious odor of ammonia was causing my nose to burn,” the investigating officer wrote.
Police said six of the dogs were in cages covered with urine and feces; some of the cages were tied shut
The cages contained buckets of discolored water “not fit for consumption,” according to the report, some of which were “filled with moldy sludge.”
The dogs were “skittish and aggressive” towards animal services investigators and the dogs “appeared to lack any socialization,” according to the police report.
The four puppies were living in a feces and urine-covered bathroom without any light, the report continued.
Police said all of the dogs in the trailer appeared to be malnourished.
Outside of the trailer were seven dogs in various-sized cages, covered in feces and urine and subjected to the blistering South Florida heat, police said. Those cages also had buckets of discolored water inside.
“One canine was in a cage within the cane grass and trees and was only able to be freed by cutting the side of the cage open,” the investigating officer wrote. “Due to having cut the cage open, it is unknown when the canine had last been released from the cage.”
Police also found dogs living in three unventilated shipping containers that were so hot, detectives were unable to remain in them for an extended length of time, according to the report. Once again, officers said they found buckets of discolored water within cages.
Police said one dog was kept in a cage so small, the animal was unable to move normally due to the bucket of dirty water.
According to the report, another dog, who appeared to have just given birth, was found running loose on the property while another was found in a trailer that appeared to have been used by Nelson with no air conditioning and no water.
“You would figure they’d be screaming over there,” neighbor Ed Jones told Local 10 News. “I can’t believe it.”
Police spoke to Nelson, whose remarks were redacted from the arrest report. He was being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $36,500 bond.