Owner explains why she dumped her dogs

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) - Animal Resource officials have been searching for her, now Connie Davis of Troy is coming forward to 2 News. She said she wanted to explain to her community why she made a decision that left so many shaking their heads.

Davis admits that late Monday night, she drove her 5 dogs to the Montgomery County Bark Park in Dayton, where they'd once gone to run and play, and dropped them off. Someone found the dogs the next morning and turned them in to the Animal Resource Center. Officials there later said that the dogs showed signs of neglect and possible ear infections.

Davis said she chose the Bark Park because it was enclosed, the dogs knew the area, and she knew that animal lovers would find them there and take care of them.

"I didn't let them off in the street in a field with a bag of dog food and wish them luck," she said. "I put them where I knew they would be okay."

Officials at the Animal Resource Center said the decision to leave the dogs in the park was dangerous.

"Simply dropping them, albeit in a fenced in area, is not the best solution," said Mark Kumpf, Director, Montgomery County Animal Resource Center. "With temperatures soaring over 90 degrees each day, leaving dogs in the sun is essentially the same as dropping them in the middle of an interstate."

Wednesday, the story got even deeper. Investigators arrived at the Davis family's former home in Huber Heights, and what they found was shocking. Our camera was there to capture trash was piled everywhere in the filthy house.

"The smell coming from the house, you can almost smell standing in the front yard," said Kumpf.

Kumpf said the home would be referred to the housing inspector. Davis admitted that the house and the dogs had gotten to be too much.

"There was abuse going on, there was unemployment, poverty, and everything just weighs down on you and you just ... I got overwhelmed with life," said Davis. "I think we all did."

Davis said she lost her job in July 2009, after a family emergency led her to run out of family medical leave. Davis also left her husband in May 2010, moving into a tiny studio apartment in Troy with two of her children. Pets are not allowed in the apartment, so her husband was left to take care of the dogs in their Huber Heights home, but after a year of money problems, foreclosure was looming.

Her husband called the Animal Resource Center about giving up the dogs, she said, but he was told that it would cost $200 to turn them in. That was money neither of them had.

Kumpf admits that all local rescue agencies charge a surrender fee, but he says deals can be made.

"Many of those fees are able to be waived under certain circumstances if people have the opportunity to come in and speak with a supervisor and come in and explain their situation," said Kumpf.

We relayed the message to Davis, who had this to say: "I doubt it because when he (my husband) called me he was very angry, screaming. He told them that he was being foreclosed on that he was leaving, that these dogs need to be out of here. They asked if he could prove it, he said I have the foreclosure papers in my hand, and their response was, I don't know what to tell you, sir."

Davis said she even tried to lie, calling an emergency line to say that she'd found abandoned dogs. She said that didn't work, either.

"They told me there was nothing they could do," she said. "This is 911 I'm talking about."

One shelter did offer some help, but told Davis that she couldn't bring the dogs in until the next day. By then, Davis said, it was too late. She needed to get the dogs a home that day, because they were losing the house. That's why, Davis said, she found herself at her wits end late Monday night. Looking back, Davis said she regrets letting things get so desperate.

"I wish I would have (gotten them a home earlier). We just weren't ready to let them go," she said.

Davis is now speaking out because she wants more options for people who find themselves in her position with their pets.

"There needs to be more help for people like me," she said.

According to Kumpf, investigators are looking into bringing animal neglect charges against Davis.