Nearly 50 dogs found ‘hidden in cabinets' and ‘crammed behind furniture' in NYC apartment

Yahoo

11-05-2025

Animal rescue workers found nearly 50 Belgian Malinois in a filthy, overcrowded Queens apartment, where they spent their entire lives crammed together without going outside, authorities said.
'They've likely never touched grass, walked on a leash, or met a stranger,' said Animal Care Centers of NYC Director of Shelter Medicine Biana Tamimi.
The rescuers from ACC and the ASPCA went to the 62nd Street home in Forest Hills, Queens, on Thursday after they were notified that the owner had been evicted and needed to surrender his dogs, a law enforcement source said.
When they arrived, they found 48 dogs and puppies — some stuffed into closets and cupboards or packed into tight spaces with no access to fresh air or sunlight, according to ACC. Three of the animals had to be euthanized, officials said.
'These dogs have reportedly lived in total confinement for their entire lives,' said Tara Mercado, ACC's director of behavior and shelter operations. 'We found full-grown Malinois hidden in cabinets and crammed behind furniture.'
A criminal investigation has been opened, the source said.
The owner hasn't been publicly identified.
The dogs lived in an apartment on the 7th floor, according to neighbors, who said the entire floor reeked and the pet owner frequently tossed feces off his balcony.
'He worked at the airport security, and the dog was his [bomb] sniffing dog, that's why he was allowed to be here with the dog,' one neighbor said, adding the man sometimes walked a second dog of another breed.
'We always wondered, 'Why does it smell so bad, if it was that dog that just peed all around?'' the man, who declined to provide his name, said.
'We all assumed there were two or three dogs in there, we would never have imagined that they were that many, we never saw them ever, anywhere.'
He wondered how the dogs survived in the squalid conditions.
'It seems like a hell hole,' he said. 'They never saw the light of day, because we would know if they were walked.'
Neighbor Natalia Ruales was relieved the dogs were rescued.
'I think he had abused [the dogs] and I don't like it,' she said. 'Because there's a lot of doggies in one apartment … no good.'
Another neighbor, who identified herself as Sharon, said the floor always smelled bad.
'It always smells like that here and I always hear them barking, barking, and he throws poop out of his balcony,' she said. 'As far as I know, as we all know, he neglects his dogs. … If he takes them out in the elevator, it smells so bad, they pee on the staircase.'
Her mom was walking her own small pup and saw him kick one of his pets, the neighbor claimed.
'He kicked his dog, according to my mother,' the woman said. 'I feel happy that they were rescued because at least they're going to go to a good home thank God. And not suffer like they were here. All they were doing was barking, barking non stop, even nighttime.'The dogs won't be up for adoption until they've been evaluated because most are 'extremely fearful, undersocialized and in need of long-term behavioral support,' according to the ACC.
'Every new sound, every human interaction is overwhelming,' Tamimi said. 'But we're already seeing glimmers of curiosity — and that gives us hope.'.Workers spent two days removing the dogs from the home, authorities said.
'Right now they're decompressing,' ACC spokeswoman Katy Hanson told The Post. 'They're being walked for the first time. Cared for (for) the first time. They've actually slept a lot because you can imagine how noisy it was in that apartment with 40 other dogs.'
The ACC is currently waiving fees for dogs over 40 pounds.
'With our dog population now at near triple capacity in Queens alone, we are also in desperate need of placement for the additional 175 dogs already in care in Queens and the 165 dogs currently waiting for homes at our Manhattan and Staten Island Care Centers,' said Jessica Vacarro, ACC's director of placement.