20 dogs die in Arizona heat after air conditioning kicks out on senator's son

[Sunlei]

Heat. There's been plenty of it to go around in Arizona these first days of summer -- literally and politically -- after the air conditioning went out at a dog kennel.Sheriff's deputies found 20 dead dogs piled up in a shed on Friday at Green Acres Dog Boarding Facility in Gilbert. The public shock over their deaths led a U.S. senator to issue a public statement on Monday.As fate would have it, Republican Sen. Jeff Flake's son, Austin, was minding the kennel, when the dogs died. Green Acres is owned and operated by two of Flake's relatives, Jesse and Maleisa Hughes, the Maricopa County Sheriff's office said.

Owners of the facility returned from Florida on Friday evening and started calling the dog owners Saturday morning. Some dog owners who arrived at the facility on Saturday said they were initially told their pets had escaped.
Doug Hart was looking for his sister's dogs and was told the dogs had run away after the air conditioning went out.
"My mom and all these people have been driving around looking for their dogs for two hours to find out the dogs are dead in the shed," he said.



http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/24/us/arizona-dog-heat-deaths/

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/06/23/17-dogs-die-arizona-pet-boarding/11255323/

Way to many people and animals are killed from the heat. Over the years I've personally known of another "kennel owner" with a shed type building kill 30 dogs at one time. Another a professional dog show handler killed 15 champion dogs when they went into a restaurant & the air conditioning went out in their travel trailer while they enjoyed a meal.

Heat kills, please everyone think, plan in advance for your kids and your animals very life.

What is the worse that can happen if the power goes out?, if you 'forget your kids in the car'? , if an animal chews a lower cord (dogs do this all the time!) what if the kennel help doesn't show-up or check on your pet? If the answer is your kid or your animal is dead...then do not set the table for that kind of 'accident'. It is not worth the risk, is it?

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

1. Will anything be learned from this?

Will anyone propose legislation requiring boarding kennels to have video and temperature monitors that must be checked hourly at a minimum by those running kennels, if only via internet connectivity? Or anything similar that will prevent this from happening again elsewhere? Or will it simply be treated as an 'isolated case'?

[valerief]

2. More likely Republicans will pass a law making news stories about dogs illegal. nt

[nilesobek]

25. That was the most awesome cut ever. Thanks

[Stonepounder]

3. You are joking right?

We didn't learn anything from Columbine and Sandy Hook. Why would you possibly think that we would actually 'learn' anything from a few dogs dying? We hear daily about cops shooting dogs in the owner's own yard because the cop can't tell the difference between a happy, excited bark and an aggressive bark. So who is going to care about digs (except, of course for the bereaved families who have lost a family member).

Sorry, just feeling really bummed this morning after teh SCOTUS rulings yesterday and now this. We have 4 1/2 dogs and I wouldn't dream of boarding them anywhere. If they can't go with us then we don't go.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

7. I know, but I can dream.

My housemate and I have gone on exactly one vacation at the same time since we got our dogs, taking them with us. Every other time, one of us has stayed with the dogs while the other is away. We love our vet; I've known her for 37 years now, but we simply don't 'kennel'.

[lexx21]

21. Oh we learned MANY things from Columbine and Sandy Hook...

We learned that congress cares more about NRA funding than they do about protecting the most vulnerable in our society. We learned about the complete disdain that they had for the parents of the Sandy Hook shooting. We learned that Congress will not even pass a law requiring mental health checks before purchasing a gun as long as there is a buck to be made from it.

We learned plenty from Columbine and Sandy Hook, it's just that our "fearless leaders" refuse to do anything about it.

[Sunlei]

8. There are state 'guides' USDA regulations. But they meet the minimum so puppy mills can stay open

This loss of so many dogs in that Arizona "Dog boarding kennel" had several issues that just were a disaster waiting to happen.

1) dogs left alone for several hours each day.
2) kennel said they were a 'no cage kennel', well that meant 27 dogs were crammed (LOOSE!) into a 20x20 storage shed /w 1 cheap window unit.
3) the two property owners go on vacation and have one relative take care of all those customers dogs!
4) then when the dogs are discovered dead, they lie to the owners and tell some owners 'your dog ran away'

None of this is against the law, many people keep dogs outside in that state. But I bet many of the owners would never have boarded their dogs at that place if they knew how their pets would be housed & cared for.


Even last week a 'professional' dog trainer who sells dogs to the military and is on TV on one of those reality shows, killed 10 dogs from the heat. The 'Kennel' sells $6,000 and up trained dogs.

They had the dogs in a trailer, drove 12 hours to a military base to sell the dogs to the Gov. and arrived with trailer-full of dead and dying dogs. The heat and no air conditioning, and not even a remote temp. check app or a video cam on the animals in the trailer. No one even stopped the drive to check on the dogs.

These kind of 'accidents' should never happen, not with a pet, any animal or a kid. All the deaths were preventable. I'm a bit tired of heat deaths being called 'accidents' , they are at the minimum negligence.

[1StrongBlackMan]

16. Legislation isn't necessary ...

there should never be a time when a kennel should be left "unmanned." (And I guess I shouldn't have to mention, manned by someone with common sense and/or gives a crap about the dogs.)

I know, on the few occasions that we have boarded our dogs, one of the first questions I asked was whether someone was on site at all times.

[kairos12]

4. Local AZ Media is desperately downplaying Flake's son's role in this tragedy.

[avebury]

6. His mother-in-law immediately started playing the

political connection card telling the media that they would have to talk to Governor Brewer and Senator Flake. What on earth does Brewer have to do with this.

I would love to see the phone records between father and son lined up against the timeframe of the events.

[yellowcanine]

20. Does anyone else think that Jeff Flake and his sons are appropriately named?

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/06/12/flake-apologizes-for-sons-unacceptable-behavior/

[avebury]

5. You know what is even worse?

As they were hiding the dead bodies of the dogs in a shed, they carried on as though nothing had happened, taking in more dogs. A woman dropped her dogs off Saturday morning, did not notice anything amiss and within 2 hours the Sheriff's Dept. had swarmed in. It was not until the booking agency called her on Sunday to say that her dogs needed to be moved (and they did it for her) that she started hearing about what happened. At $20 per night per dog, they were not going to stop taking dogs and some people are still using them which is crazy.

They also waited over 24 hours before they started to call the owners which was more then enough time to try to clean up the scene and have the bodies decomposed so badly as to make accurate necropsies difficult if not impossible. They lied to the owners saying that their dogs had escaped when they were already dead and piled up in the shed. The told owners that they didn't take more than 8-9 dogs at a time (there were 28 dogs that night of which 21 died). Most of the dogs were stuffed in a 10 x 10 room without kennels. It is a miracle that there were no dog fights.

People who have bordered their dogs there in the past are now speaking out on the changes in physical condition and behavior in their dogs once they came home. Some of them had started to get a really bad vibe about this place and stopped going there. The news of the deaths made them look at what happened to their pets in a different light.

The famly also has a huge amount of young kids, including foster kids. It sure seems like the foster kids and dogs are all a money making machine to them. I am really surprised that CPS had not done a more thorough investigation in the past when you consider the number of children, the number of dogs, and the layout of the house.

I think think it will be difficult to conduct a full investigation because the people had too much time to clean up the scene and one member of the sheriff's office was too quick to call it an accident before an investigation had even been conducted.

If you listen to the "interview" that the woman had the media she is a piece of work and there are a lot of holes in her story.

[Sunlei]

9. know what you mean. dogs were dead on friday and they didn't even start to call owners untill SatAM.

A Vet clinic was less than a mile away. I bet a lot of those dogs were not yet dead, they suffer for many hours from heat.

We just don't know what really happened because they did lie to many owners & were trying to cover-up what happened.

[Mosby]

10. We can only hope this place never re-opens

Lawsuits and criminal charges should prevent that.

[avebury]

13. They are still taking in dogs.

Why any responsible pet ownere would leave a member of their family with these people is a total mystery to me.

[meti57b]

11. ..... an overwhelming sadness. There are no words.

[Aerows]

14. Watch what the owner has to say

in the link I posted down thread. She's nuts.

[Aerows]

12. I do not have words for this individual - she's the owner

[yellowcanine]

18. She is a piece of work. "What about all the happy dog owners?"

20 dogs die and you want reporters to focus on the happy dog owners? Jesus H. Christ.

[stevenleser]

15. In an area that has extremely hot or cold conditions, wouldnt you have a warning for the HVAC system

where it would call/text/email/page people if the temperature exceeded some normal range.

if you had this kind of business, I think not having that should be actionable if it results in what we see here.

[yellowcanine]

19. A dog chewed through the power cord and it was still sparking?????

If one can believe that, which frankly I have a little trouble believing, at least the way they were describing it as sparking, etc. The instant the dog shorted out the circuit it should have kicked the circuit breaker - there would be no more current and no sparking. And who wires a circuit with the wire exposed for a dog to chew through? Something suspicious there also. That in itself would be gross negligence.

Other parts of the story really do not add up as well. Supposedly it was over 100 degrees in the room at 5:30 am, yet the AC was working at 11 pm the night before and the night time temp was not above the low 80's. Yes dog body heat is a factor but still, something seems wrong here. IF the dogs had access to water they really should have been ok. I believe the AC was off the day before and no one checked on those dogs for quite some time for some reason.


According to some of the dog owners they were lied to about the number of dogs being boarded and also told that their dogs had run away after the AC went out - another lie. These people are clearly hiding something.

[former9thward]

17. This has to be placed on the owners.

Yes, the condition the dogs were placed in was terrible. But why didn't the owners take 2 minutes and investigate exactly where and under what conditions their dogs were going to be placed in? Too lazy to take a 2 minute tour and now their dog is dead because of it.

[yellowcanine]

22. Some truth there but it is easy for operators of these facilities to hide things.

They can show a group of dogs happily playing in a large spacious room but YOUR dog ends up crowded into a small room with 20 other dogs with no AC and no water. Of course owners could choose a licensed facility which voluntarily submits to third party audits and vet checks.

[former9thward]

23. I have read there is no licensing (at least here in Maricopa county)

for these type of facilities. I would not kennel my dogs. Inconvenience sometimes but that is the way it goes.

[yellowcanine]

24. No state or county licensing does not mean no licensing/certifications

Yes it would be good if every jurisdiction had certifications but there are other options. I would not leave my dog at a boarding facility just based on the owner's word alone. Good facilities will also have some kind of customer evaluation system and provide contact information for references so that you can check them out.

http://www.care.com/pet-care-pet-care-certifications-101-p1017-q14597.html

[Sunlei]

31. It was a large house, not a facility. People were told their pets run free in the home with the kids

[Sunlei]

30. No one should board their dog where their dog doesn't have their own private area to sleep & eat.

Most Dogs love some 'group play' but not 24/7 group play. And certainly not 'caged' as a group in a shed with a window unit. Just the dogs body heat alone will overwhelm a window units ability to cool.

[nilesobek]

26. The Junior Flake should be charged criminally.

[CountAllVotes]

27. How horrible

Lock the SOB up and lets hope that the poor dogs that died are now Resting in Peace!

[SheilaT]

28. I'm wondering a little about the dog

owners who would leave their animals in a place like that. A large shed where they all are together? One window a/c? In Arizona in the summer?

I do feel for the owners, but I wonder how many of them had really looked closely at the place they were leaving their dogs.

[smokey nj]

29. This story makes me very sad and very angry.

I take care of peoples' pets for a living. If one of them died while in my care I wouldn't be able to live with myself.