CHANDLER, Ariz. — A Chandler woman who had 55 dogs seized from her home is fighting to get 47 of them back. April McLaughlin filed a petition with Chandler Municipal Court Monday and will appear before a judge on October 11 to make her case.
The Arizona Humane Society (AHS) says they're going to fight to stop her from getting the dogs.
McLaughlin is the subject of an animal cruelty investigation. On September 22, Chandler police seized 55 dogs from her home that were found living in deplorable conditions. The dogs were in kennels with blankets caked in feces. In some cases, the kennels were stacked up to seven feet tall. The stench coming from the Chandler home engulfed the surrounding neighborhood.
Five dogs were found dead in McLaughlin's freezer.
“I hope on October 11, the judge is clear on the evidence that's presented that there's no way the dogs should go back to April. There is no way," said Dr. Steven Hansen, the president and CEO of the AHS.
After McLaughlin was taken into custody on 55 counts of animal abuse, 55 counts of animal cruelty and one count of vulnerable adult abuse, the dogs were seized from McLaughlin's home and brought to the AHS.
The Maricopa County Attorney's Office has since set the case back to Chandler PD for further investigation. McLaughlin is currently not facing any charges and is out of custody.
RELATED: Chandler PD seeking more info on animal abuse case after county attorney asks for more evidence
"I was there watching and supporting our team, but our medical team and our field team, our animal care team were the hands-on people that were taking care of these dogs," Hansen said. "Many of the dogs were in very poor health. They were extremely underweight, a lot of lesions and sores. Some that I won't describe. But it's the worst that I have ever seen."
AHS has been caring for the dogs ever since.
McLaughlin wants 47 of her 55 dogs back. The court gave possession of the remaining eight dogs to the humane society.
Three of them were reunited with their previous animal rescue organizations on Wednesday. Four others are set to be reunited soon. The eighth dog had to be euthanized.
"I can provide a little bit of information, just a little bit of insight. This dog was in very, very poor straits, paralyzed in the rear, lesions on the rear, unable to stand, upper respiratory disease. A very, very sad situation and not able to recover," Hansen described.
Hansen said they ran an adoption special last weekend in an effort to clear up space and resources to continue caring for the dozens of dogs seized from the home in Chandler.
'They're remarkably resilient.'
He said the dogs are resilient and many of the animals are improving.
“Our team goes in there, our veterinarians see them every day and examine them, adjust their medications, change their bandages. Our animal care team and our behavior and enrichment team takes the dogs, moves them from kennel to kennel to clean, they get to go outside," Hansen said. "They're getting special diets. Many of them are extremely underweight. So they're gaining weight, they're healing. They're remarkably resilient."
Several rescues across the country say they were duped by McLaughlin, or by one of the many aliases she has used. They say they gave her disabled dogs that she assured she would care for. They are now doing everything in their power to get their dogs back, including filing a lawsuit against the AHS in an effort to get the animals before McLaughlin has a chance to.
"I know they care. I know they're appalled," Hansen said. “I know that they don't all understand why we can't just turn over the dogs to them right now. They're not actually our dogs to turn over. They are currently under the direction of the court.”
Hansen said he hopes the attention this case has received sheds light on the lack of laws in Arizona communities when it comes to animals, neglect and hoarding.
"I hope that we think about laws. And we need to strengthen our laws in Arizona so that action could have been taken faster. We have to work within the laws. If we don't, this case falls apart and all the dogs go back to her and we're right back where we started from," Hansen said.
AHS said they have been carefully documenting the health of each dog and plans to present their findings at the October 11 hearing. Hansen said if the judge rules in McLaughlin's favor, they will appeal the decision.
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