Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed is under fire after “pet massacre” allegations surfaced against him. His tenure as Detroit health director is facing renewed scrutiny. During his tenure, Detroit's animal control department was marred by allegations of animal mistreatment and reportedly branded a "slaughterhouse" by a former employee, Fox News Digital reported.
Detroit Animal Care and Control’s (DACC) live-release rate was about 20% to 26% when El-Sayed inherited the operation back in 2015. However, it increased to about 61% to 62% by late 2016, which is an improvement his campaign points to.
According to the Daily Mail, records covering the period surrounding El-Sayed’s tenure showed that as many as 4,680 dogs and cats were euthanized. 1,056 dogs and 29 cats were euthanized in the first full calendar year DACC was under El-Sayed’s Health Department, the report said.
Animal lovers are now calling for PETA’s attention to the matter. “PETA is oddly silent about Abdul El-Sayed’s pet massacre…Where are you @peta?” an X user wrote. Another echoed, “where is @peta”.
The renewed scrutiny
The scrutiny, in part, stems from an October 2015 whistleblower lawsuit filed by former Detroit Animal Control officer Brittany Roberts. She alleged that several animals were kept in filthy conditions and mistreated, and some died from inadequate food and medical care, per the Daily Mail. Roberts also claimed that she was harassed and later fired after reporting the problems.
{{/usCountry}}The scrutiny, in part, stems from an October 2015 whistleblower lawsuit filed by former Detroit Animal Control officer Brittany Roberts. She alleged that several animals were kept in filthy conditions and mistreated, and some died from inadequate food and medical care, per the Daily Mail. Roberts also claimed that she was harassed and later fired after reporting the problems.
{{/usCountry}}The same month, the lawsuit landed. Shortly before that, the city moved Animal Control from the Detroit Police Department to the Health Department led by El-Sayed.
"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, accusing 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 started working at the shelter in March 2015. She alleged in her lawsuit filed that October that she saw animals die from a lack of food and medical care, unsanitary conditions and other violations of state law and department policy.
At the time, FOX 2 Detroit reported that Roberts referred to the shelter as a "slaughterhouse.” She also alleges that dogs were rarely euthanized properly, but were neglected and mistreated until they died.
Best Friends Animal Society put Detroit Animal Care and Control’s 2015 save rate at just 20%, per the Daily Mail. On the other hand, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development's Animal Shelter Annual Report placed its live-release rate at 26%. The 2015 numbers showed that 1,988 dogs and 272 cats, and a total of 2,260 animals were euthanized.
The city later scrapped the shelter’s no-adoption policy and began working with rescue and foster organizations. Melissa Miller became a new animal-control director in December 2015, according to local reporting. The operation was eventually moved into a larger facility donated by the Michigan Humane Society and expanded partnerships with outside animal-welfare groups.
Local reporting put Detroit Animal Care and Control’s live-release rate at 61%, up from 26% the previous year, by September 2016. The following month, Miller said that the figure had reached 62%, which was nearly triple the prior year’s rate. The DACC did not publicly report its 2016 euthanasia figures, according to the Daily Mail, but numbers they obtained revealed that the animal control unit euthanized 1,056 dogs and 29 cats that year.
Mike Duggan, who was the Detroit Mayor at the time, said that the previous euthanasia rate had been "unacceptable," adding that the improved rate was "more in line with national standards."
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Duggan’s office did acknowledge that DACC had a very high euthanasia rate, citing inadequate shelters and Detroit’s emergence from bankruptcy as major challenges. It said that the challenges were not entirely within Animal Control’s control because of city budget constraints.
"When I was the new director of the Detroit Health Department, I inherited a part of the job that I never trained for and never thought I would do, which is Detroit Animal Control," El-Sayed said during a 2024 podcast interview. "And it was a mess at the time, and I needed somebody who I could trust, who could come in and do right by the animals and right by the people of the city of Detroit. And Mel Miller was that person."
What Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign said
El-Sayed’s campaign dismissed the animal death allegations, telling Fox News Digital that he raised frontline animal-care officer pay by 15% and worked to fully staff the operation. His campaign also credited him with moving it into a more modern facility, overhauling care protocols and expanding partnerships aimed at getting animals out of the shelter alive.
"During Abdul El-Sayed’s tenure as Detroit Health Director, he dramatically reduced animal euthanizations and reversed the Detroit Animal Control’s abysmal save rate," the campaign said, adding that the changes resulted in nearly 80% of animals being placed in homes.
Detroit's animal control operation, however, continued to face legal and operational problems during El-Sayed’s tenure. A federal judge in February 2016 temporarily blocked Detroit Animal Control from seizing dogs from homes without a warrant, consent or emergency circumstances amid a lawsuit brought by residents. Some residents claimed that their dogs died at the city shelter or shortly after leaving it.
In July 2016, Detroit agreed to pay $63,000 to settle Roberts’ whistleblower lawsuit.