Twenty-seven dogs were seized from a Johns Island residence Thursday afternoon by Charleston County animal services after the home was deemed unfit for the animals, Charleston County sheriff's officials said.
Several of the dogs taken from a home on Johns Island sit in a Charleston County Sheriff's Office animal services truck outside the residence Thursday.
Deputies responded to William Larry Davis' residence on Marlin Road earlier this week following a call from a person who answered a classified advertisement in The Post and Courier concerning the sale of the dogs, most of which were Alaskan malamutes. The person did not buy a dog but instead phoned the sheriff's office to report the deplorable conditions, deputies said.
"I went into the yard and it was bad enough," Deputy Theresa Rhom said. "He wouldn't allow me in the house."
Rhom returned with a search warrant, but did not expect the interior of the home to be so bad, she said.
"It took my breath away," she said.
Animal services was notified and the animals were taken to the John Ancrum Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, according to Lt. Mikel Benton, spokesman for the sheriff's office.
"The house was in horrible living condition, feces was up to six inches off the floor of the residence," Benton said. "The bathrooms were in horrible condition. It was so bad that our crime scene technicians had to don protective clothing."
The dogs appeared to be in good health and had food and water, Rhom said.
Davis, 60, was charged with 18 citations for animal care and more animal charges are pending, Benton said. Davis also was charged with simple possession of marijuana, according to Benton.
The county will have a custody hearing for the dogs, Rhom said, to determine if the animals will be put up for adoption or placed in foster care.
Deputies said the house was condemned and that Davis has multiple animal-care convictions dating back to 1998.
Neighbors who watched animal control officials remove the dogs said the animals had been a continuous problem, and many said they had filed petitions and complaints about noise. They heard the dogs barking early in the morning on numerous occasions, neighbors said.
Rhom said she pitied the dogs because of their living conditions.
"These are the most horrible conditions I've ever seen and I've been doing this for 26 years," Rhom said. "There's not a space in there where you're not walking on feces or in urine." Neighborhood MapFor more information about the Interactive Animal Cruelty Maps, see the map notes.
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