JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Three dogs were left without food and water at a home near the Oceanway neighborhood on Jacksonville's Northside, neighbors said.
Robert Barley, who lives nearby, told News4Jax that the dogs had been abandoned for several weeks. He took a photo of one of the dogs that he said was suffering from malnutrition and it was seized Tuesday by animal control.
"I'm an animal lover and I've had pets all my life. I have a dog now and it's like family to me," Barley said. "So it's like a child they're neglecting."
Another neighbor, who asked to not be identified, watched as the animal control officer took the dog away after it wandered onto the street.
"The dog that was removed today was skin and bones," the neighbor said. "You could see its rib cage."
According to neighbors, up until a month ago, a family of four was living in a house on Hollings Street, but the mother became ill, ended up in the hospital and hasn't been back. The small children are presumably living with relatives and the father occasionally comes back.
Meanwhile, neighbors said, three dogs were left at the home.
"It was just pitiful," Barley said. "They were literally starving to death. We tried to feed them. The female was getting all the food and not letting the other two eat."
Notices posted on the home were left behind by animal control, letting the dogs' owners know they are under investigation for animal abandonment.
While one of the three dogs was picked up by animal control outside the house, News4Jax spotted a second dog in the front yard. That dog later got inside the house through an open back door. Neighbors said there is no electricity in the house and they said there's a foul odor coming from the open back door.
"I understand there's one in the house that may be dead or in bad condition," the neighbor said. "Code enforcement left several tickets on the front gate,"
Barley said the third, older dog hasn't been seen in a couple of weeks.
"It might be dead inside," Barley said. "I'm thinking it probably is."
Even when the dogs' owners did live in the home, Barley said, the house still didn't have power.
"They have come over in the past and asked us to plug in an extension cord because they have kids and we, obviously, let them for a couple of nights," he said. "But it's gotten to the point where we can't afford to pay for your electricity."
According to neighbors, authorities have been to the home before. Neighbors said animal control, along with code enforcement and the Department of Children and Families, showed up at the house multiple times.
"When we first moved here, there was a dog outside that was dead in the yard. We smelled the smell and finally walked up and said, 'Hey, are you all going to do something with this dead dog? It's smelling up the whole neighborhood,'" Barley said. "DCF has been here and we've had problems with the yard. They let it grow about 4 feet high. We had to call the city and the city came out and made them cut the yard. It's just a neglected property, always has been."
Several neighbors spoke to the animal control officer, and were told that the officer plans to come back with a warrant to enter the home.
After obtaining a warrant, Jacksonville police officers and animal control entered the house on Hollings Street Thursday afternoon.
When officers entered the home, they said it smelled, but they could not find the other two dogs.
A neighbor who complained about the abandoned dogs said animal control told him that someone likely took the animals before officers arrived with the warrant.