Abdul El-Sayed’s record overseeing Detroit’s troubled animal control agency is dogging his bid for the U.S. Senate in Michigan.
The Democratic nominee took charge of the Detroit Health Department as the city transferred Detroit Animal Care and Control from the police department in October 2015. The move came as the shelter faced explosive allegations of animal neglect, filthy conditions and improper euthanasia practices.
Former animal control officer Brittany Roberts called the facility a “slaughterhouse,” according to FOX 2 Detroit, and claimed dogs were often left to suffer and die instead of being properly euthanized.
“I was almost embarrassed with myself to be part of a team that played a role of the death of so many dogs in their cages,” Roberts said in 2015 as she accused the agency of neglect and mistreatment, according to The Daily Mail. “Every morning, we’d just walk around and see who was alive before we could even feed.”
Roberts began working at the shelter in March 2015 and filed a whistleblower lawsuit that October. She alleged animals died because they lacked food and medical treatment, were confined in unsanitary conditions and endured other violations of state law and department policy, The Daily Mail reported.
She also accused officials of demeaning, harassing and eventually firing her after she reported the alleged abuses.
The lawsuit was filed during the same month the city shifted the animal control operation from the Detroit Police Department to the Health Department led by Abdul El-Sayed. The police department had overseen Animal Control since 2012.
El-Sayed’s campaign argues he inherited a disaster and helped turn it around.
Best Friends Animal Society reported that Detroit Animal Care and Control saved just 20% of animals in 2015. State data placed the live-release rate at 26%, according to The Daily Mail. That year, the agency euthanized 1,988 dogs and 272 cats, for a total of 2,260 animals.
The city launched a broad overhaul after the transfer. Officials eliminated the shelter’s no-adoption policy, expanded relationships with rescue and foster groups and appointed Melissa Miller as animal control director in December 2015, according to local reports.
The shelter later relocated to a larger facility donated by the Michigan Humane Society and increased its partnerships with outside animal welfare organizations.
By September 2016, the live-release rate had jumped to 61%, local reports said. Miller announced the following month that it had reached 62%, nearly three times the previous year’s rate.
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Then-Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said the former euthanasia rate had been “unacceptable,” while the improved figure was “more in line with national standards.”
But the number of animals put down under El-Sayed’s department is now drawing fresh attention following his bruising Democratic primary victory over Rep. Haley Stevens.
The Daily Mail reported that records spanning the period around El-Sayed’s tenure showed 4,680 dogs and cats were euthanized. The agency did not publicly release its 2016 euthanasia totals, but records obtained by the outlet showed 1,056 dogs and 29 cats were put down during the first full calendar year the operation was controlled by El-Sayed’s Health Department.
The revelations quickly drew alarm from Democrats and ammunition from Republicans.
“I actually really really don’t want to believe this. Can someone verify?” questioned Michael LaRosa, former first lady Jill Biden’s one-time press secretary.
Republican Senate opponent Mike Rogers pounced on the controversy.
“This is sickening. Abdul El-Sayed wants Michiganders to trust him with their families,” El-Sayed’s Republican opponent, Mike Rogers, wrote on X. “Meanwhile, Detroiters couldn’t even trust him with their pets.”
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