For 76 dogs rescued in Lemont, getting out is only the start

What will it take to turn the rescue of 76 dogs from a condemned Lemont house into 76 lasting homes?

The first requirement was space—and even that ran short. After an operation that Police Chief Jason LoCoco said lasted upwards of nine hours, police kept the final four dogs overnight because shelters had no more room. Getting the animals out of the house ended one crisis. It did not mean they were ready for adoption. ³

Chicago’s Anti-Cruelty received 33 of the dogs late Friday, October 23. They ranged from eight-week-old puppies to adults, and many had limited experience with human contact. The shelter’s immediate task was to help them settle, learn their personalities and assess what each needed. As of Saturday morning, October 24, it could not give an adoption timetable. ¹¹

That distinction—between removal and readiness—is the central fact of the rescue. A count can describe how many dogs left a property. It cannot tell a prospective adopter how a particular dog will respond to a new person, a new room or an unfamiliar routine.

The home in the 800 block of McCarthy Road was unlivable and has been condemned. Photographs supplied to NBC Chicago by Ruby Whiskers Animal Rescue showed grime covering floors and walls, scattered debris and dirty plastic bins that appeared to serve as makeshift dog beds. ^{1 11}

Kim Arias, founder of Ruby Whiskers, described burning eyes and throat when she entered. “You really couldn’t breathe when you walked in,” she told CBS Chicago. She covered her face with her shirt. Catching the dogs, which had to be secured from the yard, garage and house, was “like chasing wild animals,” she said. ^{1 3}

But difficult handling was not the same as aggression. “I did not see any aggression. I saw fear, for sure,” Arias told ABC7 Chicago. LoCoco likewise distinguished the building’s condition from the animals’, describing the dogs as “fairly healthy, active, friendly, a bit skittish,” which he attributed to a lack of human contact. ³

Those observations matter, but they are not veterinary examinations. The filthy surroundings do not establish that every dog was starving or injured; the chief’s description does not establish that every dog was free of illness or other care needs. The available reporting contains no individual veterinary diagnoses, treatment records or medical prognoses.

Anti-Cruelty’s account points to the work ahead: “Many are undersocialized and will need patience and individualized care as they adjust to new surroundings.” Its assessment process, rather than the date of the rescue, will determine when its dogs can be offered for adoption. ¹¹

Arias took three dogs through Ruby Whiskers and anticipated foster homes and adoption availability within the next few days. Those were plans, not confirmed placements. She also expressed concern that some dogs might be pregnant; no confirmed pregnancy count or subsequent births are established in the available accounts. ¹

The reported intakes do not add up to a complete placement ledger for all 76 animals. Nor should the four dogs held overnight by police be counted as a separate final destination: a shelter transfer was expected, but its completion is not confirmed. There is still no verified total of dogs in permanent homes. ^{1 3 11}

Police went to the property on Thursday, October 22, to execute a search warrant connected to a firearms restraining order issued by a Cook County judge. Before serving it, officers determined that the number of dogs posed a safety concern and requested help from Cook County Animal Control and the Cook County Sheriff’s Office’s Animal Cruelty Unit. ^{1 6 7}

LoCoco said complaints and interactions involving the homeowner had escalated in recent weeks. Police had also learned that his Firearm Owner’s Identification card, commonly called a FOID card, had been revoked. Animal-control teams from Grundy County, Palos Hills, Bolingbrook and Evergreen Park joined local shelters and volunteers in the response. ^{1 3}

Police reported recovering three firearms. Homeowner Andrew Malak, 58, faces multiple animal-cruelty counts and felony weapons charges. He was taken into custody without incident and later released, CBS Chicago reported. These are allegations, not findings of guilt. ^{1 11}

The legal chronology is more limited than a single arrest-and-charging date suggests. Patch’s October 22 scene report said charges were pending; by October 23, reports said Malak had been charged. The exact filing or approval date, statutory offenses and count totals have not been established from a reviewed complaint or case-specific docket. Seventy-six dogs does not mean 76 cruelty counts, and three firearms does not mean three weapons counts. ^{7 4 2}

CBS Chicago reported that Malak’s next court appearance would be Monday, October 26, in Bridgeview. No hearing hour, plea, ruling or outcome is established in the available reporting. ¹

For neighbors, the discovery raised another question: why had conditions been allowed to continue? Myra Bertlang told CBS Chicago that noise came at all hours and that, over roughly the preceding month, the odor had become “horrendous.” She associated it with dog feces but said she had not realized 76 dogs were inside. Another neighbor, Ian Carter, also described persistent noise and a terrible smell. ^{1 3}

Bertlang said neighbors had sought village intervention for years. According to her, officials said their “hands were tied” because no ordinance limited the number of dogs a person could keep in a house. That is her account of the response—not an independently established reading of the municipal code or the village’s full enforcement authority. The reporting does not establish which complaints officials received, what inspections occurred or whether an enforceable violation had previously been documented. ¹

The rescue required an extensive network of agencies and volunteers. The overnight shortage shows how little spare capacity that network had when dozens of dogs needed somewhere safe at once. The next measure of success is not simply how quickly kennels empty. It is whether each dog’s needs are understood well enough to make the next home a lasting one.