The picture sent to my phone was last November was heartbreaking: A young, brown dog, possibly a boxer/hound mix, lying on his side. He was skinny - ribs were visible beneath the layer of snow that had accumulated on his body as he froze to death, chained to a tire in a Detroit yard.
My shock gave way to anger. I called the contact who’d sent me the picture. I asked: How could this happen? Who is being held accountable?
My contact, who is part of the local animal rescue community, said: first, this is not uncommon because dog chaining is rampant in Detroit, and secondly, it’s doubtful anyone will be held accountable because the city does not enforce its dog chaining law.
---> Full investigation: Detroit overwhelmed with dogs chained up across city
I made some calls about the frozen brown dog and learned no one had be charged with any crime, even though there are state and city laws against animal neglect and dog chaining. So although a dog was found frozen to the ground, on a chain, the people in whose yard the dog was found were not held accountable.
Detroit has a messy history with dogs.
After a number of vicious dog attacks on children by loose dogs, in 2017, Detroit began expanding its Animal Care and Control department (DACC). More officers were hired, more trucks were purchased, and the investment seems to have paid off. News photographers (who typically spend a lot of time driving all over the city) tell me they see far fewer stray dogs roaming Detroit streets than they used to. And several former Detroit Animal Care and Control employees say the department is almost singularly focused on getting strays off the street, while all but ignoring the dog chaining law.
I started noticing chained dogs while working on other stories around the city, so I knew we would have no trouble finding dogs illegally chained for this investigation. Chained to fences in-between houses, or tethered out in the middle of fields, they’re all over the city.
A German shepherd we found chained on a lot next to his owner’s auto repair shop had been there so regularly, if you pull up Google Street View images of the business you can see him sitting there on his chain.
Animal rescue professionals say that besides exposure to the elements, chained dogs are vulnerable in other ways: they can’t escape attacks by other animals, and they become pregnant by strays.
Lots of cities around the country have dog chaining laws. In some cities, its illegal to chain your dog at all. In other cities it’s illegal to chain a dog “in a manner detrimental to the animal’s well-being.”
In Detroit you may only chain a dog on a plastic-coated tether, and only for a maximum of three continuous hours. But Detroit Animal Care and Control doesn’t have time to enforce the law, so it says citizens should police the issue themselves.
But let’s say a dog is chained in a yard next door to you for hours on end. You could: 1. make a 3-hour video recording of the dog on the chain for evidence; 2. write and sign your name to a witness statement and provide it to DACC, and then 3. show up to court to testify against your neighbor. But that puts a huge burden on you- especially since you’ll have to continue living next door to the neighbor you just had charged with a crime.
And if you’re wondering why DPD doesn’t enforce the dog chaining law, DPD says it refers all animal crimes to Detroit Animal Care and Control.
Detroit City Council voted unanimously for the dog chaining law in 2017. I wanted to hear what city council thought about their law not being enforced, but no city council person would talk with us and the mayor’s office didn’t respond to us either.
It’s been almost a year since the picture of the frozen brown dog hit my cell phone. A year later, are the people who did this still not facing charges? So today I called the Wayne County prosecutor’s office and asked. I’m still waiting for a response.
Winter is coming.
---> Dogs killed by Detroit police: How big is this problem, and what can be done?