A 40-year-old suburban Chicago woman is facing animal cruelty charges after dozens of small dogs were found in her home. Authorities say they found more than 70 Chihuahuas when they searched Jeanie Grant's Wheeling home on Aug 17. They raided the house after neighbors complained about the odors and persistent barking coming from Grant's home.
Grant was apparently breeding and selling the dogs out of her home.
Grant was charged on Aug 19 with cruelty to animals, failure to have a license required for dogs and unlawfully keeping a dog without a rabies vaccination. She also was cited for causing a noise disturbance and exceeding the limit on the number of animals allowed in a residence.
Wheeling residents are allowed only four animals per home.
The animals were all taken from a home in the 800 block of Chelsea Drive. Neighbors had complained of odor numerous times. No one would come to the door whenever police arrived.
"These dogs were kept private so nobody knew about them, and they were never let out. So these animals, probably the feces and the urine from them, there was quite an amount of it inside the residence, and the whole residence was just in a disarray," said Cmdr. Jim Kuzynowski, Wheeling Police Department.
Other Wheeling and state agencies had been investigating. Armed with their information, officers began the raid. A man inside the house reportedly yelled out a window, "If you take my dogs, I'll kill myself."
Randy Grant and Jeanie Grant were both eventually removed from the house and have been hospitalized. Charges have already been filed against Jeanie, including cruelty to animals. The same charges are pending against Randy.
All but one of the dogs are believed to be Chihuahuas. One is a Papillion. which looks like a long haired Chihuahua.
Plenty of dog lovers were hoping to immediately find a new pet.
All the pups appear healthy, but still have to be checked out, a process that could take more than a week.
If you would like to adopt one of the dogs you can call the Heartland Animal Shelter at (847) 296-6400. Donations to the Chihuahua fund may be sent to the Heartland Animal Shelter, 2975 N. Milwaukee Ave., Northbrook, IL, 60062.
Please respectfully ask Mr. Handler to work with the court�should the Grants be found guilty or enter into a plea deal on these charges�to incarcerate both for a meaningful period of time, order them to undergo psychiatric evaluations and subsequent counseling at personal expense, and bar both for life from owning, having custody of, or caring for animals in any fashion in the state of Illinois.
The Honorable Steven Handler
Attorney, Village of Wheeling
255 W. Dundee Rd.
Wheeling, IL 60090
847-459-9692 (fax) Case UpdatesJeanie Grant, 40, and Randy Grant, 30, both pleaded guilty before Rolling Meadows Judge Sandra Tristano to municipal ordinance violations of animal cruelty, not having licenses for the dogs, and not getting rabies vaccinations, along with noise disturbances and having too many dogs.
The 71 chihuahuas and one papillon were placed in the custody of the Heartland Animal Shelter in Northbrook.
There has been no shortage of interest in adopting the animals, according to center Executive Director Hannah Arbizzani.
"We have around 3,000 names, and so we're asking the public not to call in anymore," she said. What they do need from the public is help paying for the care they are offering the pets.
"We've been hit hard because we haven't been able to take in (other) dogs and generate an income for the shelter," while trying to care for the 72 dogs, which represent a record for how many the shelter has had at one time, Arbizzani said.
She said she was keeping a few of the youngest dogs in her own home while awaiting someone to adopt them.
The shelter was working to spay and neuter all of the dogs, and provide to some of them other medical needs that were necessary before they could be adopted, Arbizzani said.
That care is costing the shelter about $1,500 a day, Wojciechowski said.
"Our phone bill actually tripled," said shelter employee Lauren Olsberg. "It went from $400 to $1,200 due to taking in the phone calls. We couldn't handle them all, so they went into voice mail and we got charged for every single phone call."
The Heartland Animal Shelter is accepting donations through its Web site.
Those who expressed interest in adopting one of the dogs might have to wait two to three weeks before receiving a call, Arbizzani said.
Arbizzani said she hopes that people who are interested in adopting one of these dogs will contact other animal shelters, public and private, to adopt from them | Source: NBC News - Sept 29, 2005
Update posted on Sep 29, 2005 - 7:54PM |
Neighborhood MapFor more information about the Interactive Animal Cruelty Maps, see the map notes.
Back to Top References | KWQC - Aug 20, 2005 |  | ABC Channel 7 | | Chicago Tribune | | Chicago Tribune | | Pioneer Press | | NBC 5 - Aug 19, 2005 |
« Back to Search Results
|
