22 Dogs, 2 Chickens Found In Abandoned Harvey Home

HARVEY, IL — Animal control officers and staff members of the South Suburban Humane Society found 22 dogs and two chickens inside an abandoned home in Harvey on Thursday. It's believed that the animals had not been cared for in six months.

"The house was covered in filth," said Emily Klehm, executive director of the South Suburban Humane Society. "The dogs had been going to the bathroom inside the house and had not been outside in at least six months."

All animals found in the home on the south end of Harvey were alive but were covered in feces and matted fur, Klehm said. The dogs are being groomed at the Chicago Heights animal shelter and will need to be in foster care for some time before they can be adopted.

Klehm said that when she first got the call to the home that it was for a report of five dogs who were found in poor condition.

"Before I got there I heard it was 15 and then when we went in the home it was 22 dogs and two chickens," Klehm said.

Information she pieced together indicates the home had two occupants up until about six months ago, but one of the residents was sent to prison and the other moved out without the dogs and chickens.

A family member of one of the previous residents kept the animals alive by occasionally bringing food and water, but the dogs were for the most part left alone in a home that began to deteriorate as the weeks went by.

No one has been charged as of Friday afternoon, but Klehm said Cook County Animal Control has begun an investigation and if there are any arrests it would be under the jurisdiction of the Harvey Police Department.

This situation is a bit different from a recent incident the SSHS responded to in rural Peotone, Klehm said.

"This house in Harvey is on a residential block with neighbors and people who are outside," she said. "There were kids playing in the backyard of the house next door."

"To think that nobody called before now or tried to do anything... When you see something like this happening, make the call and be their (the animals) voice."

The dogs found in Harvey this week are between 2-8 years old and will need to be socialized in foster homes before adoption will be opened.

Take a look at the "before" photos of the dogs, from when they were first taken to the shelter. Follow the SSHS on Facebook to see "after" photos from when they are bathed and groomed.

Photo: "Ice Cream," one of 22 dogs found in an abandoned home in Harvey on Thursday, is recovering at the South Suburban Humane Society in Chicago Heights / Courtesy of the South Suburban Humane Society