An Orlando man remained jailed Wednesday on accusations he kept 17 canines, including a dog nursing 10 puppies, in a hot trailer without food and water for several days in the parking lot of a motel in Ormond Beach, police said.
Neddrick Isaiah Thomas, 36, was booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail on Tuesday charged with 17 counts of felony cruelty to animals. He remained locked up Wednesday on $22,500 bail.
According to Ormond Beach police, the animals were found at 2:45 p.m. Tuesday in a green trailer by a community service officer in the parking lot of the Econo Lodge at 1567 N. U.S. Highway 1.
The trailer was parked in the open on a 82-degree day and the temperature inside was between 96 and 98 degrees. The trailer, secured with a chain and lock, had no attached air conditioning or ventilation system, and only had one open window, an arrest report noted.
The community service officer informed police that he saw the trailer with dogs at the motel on Jan. 29 and spoke to Thomas, who said the dogs were not abandoned and that they had only been at the location for an hour, the arrest report states.
Thomas told the community service officer that he was looking for a place in Daytona Beach where he could relocate the dogs, police said.
17 dogs, 1 nursing 10 puppies
On Tuesday, police said the dogs were without water and food and were locked up in cages in the trailer.
Police cut the chain and lock to enter the trailer. Inside, seven dogs were immediately visible and upon a closer look, police found a dog nursing puppies. In all, the adult dog had 10 puppies in the cage with her, a report shows.
The cages had feces and urine, and newspaper lining the floors had turned into paper-mâché, police said.
All the dogs appeared severely malnourished and thirsty and two of the puppies appeared limp. Firefighters along with rescue workers had to rub the 6-week-old puppies’ chests to revive them, police said.
Firefighters rescued 17 dogs from the trailer and provided them with water. All the dogs were taken to the Halifax Humane Society, the arrest report detailed.
The manager of the hotel confirmed that Thomas owned the trailer, and that he asked him to leave on Jan. 29 because he had more than five dogs in the hotel room. Another staff member from the hotel said Thomas had at least eight other dogs in the trailer, police said.
Since Thomas got kicked out on Jan. 29, he returned a couple times to take out the dogs and feed them, according to a motel staff, the report said.
Thomas was last seen at the motel Sunday, police said.
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