Overview
- Deputies and animal management officers responded around 11 a.m. Wednesday to the 9900 block of Defoe Street after a state PACFA inspection flagged severe conditions.
- Investigators reported hazardous neglect, finding a home filled with feces and several kenneled dogs without access to water.
- Detectives obtained a search warrant, removed all 33 dogs, and transferred them to Riverdale Animal Shelter for veterinary evaluation and care.
- Misdemeanor animal-cruelty summonses were issued to homeowners Robert Attleson, 77, and Melissa Mengel, 66, pending further investigation.
- Riverdale says it is caring for more than 600 animals, about 200 over typical capacity, after roughly 500 animals arrived from seven mass seizures since mid-July; Attleson was also involved in a 2015 case in which 75 dogs were seized following a lapsed PACFA license.