An August 2024 investigation into a North Teutonia Avenue house uncovered over 50 dead dogs and other abused animals.
A Milwaukee man pled guilty this week to five counts of fatal animal mistreatment at a court hearing attended by dozens of animal rights activists.
Michael Ellis, who turned himself in to police in September 2024 as city agencies investigated his former home for signs of animal cruelty, has been accused of killing over 50 dogs. On June 9, he took a plea deal, through which prosecutors promised not to press charges related to any new information that may come to light through the ongoing probe into dozens of animals found dead or in critical condition at the scene.
Jessica Lopez, an animal advocacy volunteer, attended Ellis’s hearing after seeing a Facebook post from the Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission, or MADACC, about the court date. For advocates seated in the courtroom, Ellis’s guilty plea felt like “validation,” Lopez said.
“I felt emotional,” Lopez said, describing the moment in which Ellis pleaded guilty at the hearing. “I felt like something might actually be done, and that he may actually serve time.”
In August 2024, authorities began investigating a North Teutonia Avenue home, then city-owned and under consideration for demolition, for animal cruelty after the Department of Neighborhood Services discovered more than 30 dead dogs during a tax foreclosure visit. The inspectors also recovered 11 dead reptiles and two dead birds, as well as 10 living reptiles and three dogs in critical condition. Milwaukee Police reported they had also found firearms on the property.
An animal nuisance complaint from 2023 identifies Ellis as the former owner of the house.
The August 2024 investigation into Ellis’s home marked the first major animal abuse investigation in Milwaukee in years. In the ensuing weeks, inspectors unearthed 53 dog corpses across the house’s basement and first floor. A necropsy on one of the dogs indicated it had died from starvation.
The head of the animal control commission hypothesized that the animal remains found in the house were evidence of an underground dog-breeding operation.
In a September interview with detectives, referenced in the criminal complaint, Ellis admitted he had hoarded dogs following his divorce. He said he had struggled to keep up with their care, but that he was “embarrassed” to seek outside help.
Ellis’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for July 31. The maximum combined penalty for the five counts of mistreating an animal and causing its death — a felony charge — is $50,000 in fines, seven years and six months in prison and 10 years on parole.
Lopez, the MADACC volunteer, plans to write a letter to the judge recommending that Ellis receives the maximum sentence for the convictions. She believes that such letters can make a difference — at the June 9 hearing, the judge mentioned having received several.
Prosecutors are expected to ask that Ellis serves three years in prison followed by five years of supervision as part of the plea deal agreement, according to MADACC.
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