Police and animal rescuers removed dozens of dogs and cats from a Dunlap home on Friday.
A man and woman living in a Dunlap, Tennessee, home with 5o to 60 dogs and as many as 25 cats were in jail without bond Friday awaiting a Nov. 16 court date, Dunlap Police Department Chief Clint Huth said.
Both Phillip Ray McGhee, 48, and Mary L. Smith, 59, were charged with animal cruelty, Huth said.
State probation/parole officers were checking on McGhee, a registered sex offender, as part of the annual Operation Blackout program Thursday evening when they went to the house on Valley View Road and found the animals crammed into cages or running loose in the home, Huth said.
McGhee was convicted in 2016 of electronic exploitation of a child, according to the Tennessee Sex Offender Registry. Operation Blackout aims to locate and track sex offenders during the Halloween season to keep children safe.
The animals ranged from week-old pups to adults, he said, and all had been removed from the home by late Friday afternoon. The Marion Animal Resource Connection was leading the rescue with help from agencies such as Chattanooga’s McKamey Animal Center and the Humane Educational Society.
Photo by Dunlap Police DepartmentOfficers used respirators to go inside the cluttered, filthy and smelly home, Huth said. Some of the animals were reasonably healthy but others were emaciated and flea-ridden, he added.
The house is in a subdivision “almost in the center of Dunlap,” he said. Some neighbors told investigators they sometimes smelled a strong ammonia odor in the summer, but only occasionally. None of the neighbors reported seeing a lot of dogs at the house.
“A lot of these dogs, we believe they pretty much stayed inside the house 24/7 and were never outside,” Huth said.
The number of animals far outnumbered available shelter beds, Huth said, so Marion Animal Resource Connection was overseeing a safe space in town where the dogs and cats could be examined and treated while awaiting more permanent shelter.
“We’ve got a lot of volunteers and folks coming over here and helping us out, so I’m feeling a lot better than I was 12 hours ago,” the chief said by phone.
Bob Citrullo, with the Humane Educational Society of Chattanooga, said he got a call at 11 p.m. Thursday and dispatched the society’s van with newspaper, towels and other supplies to help MARC get set up.
He said the owners would have to sign for each animal to be surrendered to rescue agencies, so the process is likely to take some time.
Meanwhile, supplies such as crates and kennels, puppy pads, blankets and food are urgently needed, as well as volunteers to help care for the animals.
Supplies can be dropped off at the Dunlap Police Department or Marion Animal Resource Connection, and monetary donations can be made through the MARC website, http://marc4change.org/.
Contact staff writer Judy Walton at jwalton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6416.