IVANHOE — An Ivanhoe man was arrested on charges of animal cruelty last Tuesday.
According to Ivanhoe Mayor Skip Blackstone, there were eight emaciated dogs discovered at a house on Marion Drive. They were held by logging chains and had been in the sun and mud for two days without water or food.
The dogs, according to Blackstone, had tags, much like what one would see on livestock animals.
Ivanhoe Police Lt. Steven Lemons, described the conditions the dogs were being kept as “inhumane,” and were being kept chained with heavy steel chains.
Pct. 1 Justice of the Peace Tina Self signed an arrest warrant for Malcolm Isaiah Lewis, 36, who was determined to be the owner of the dogs.
Lewis was arrested on Tuesday and charged with cruelty to a non-livestock animal (failure to provide/ abandon/transport/overwork) and issued a bond of $2,500.
On Wednesday, the dogs were taken into custody by the Polk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). Blackstone said that of the eight dogs, seven were rescued, as it appeared someone had gone in after dark the previous day and collected one of them.
City council members, along with Blackstone and some community members helped by getting water to the dogs, according to Lemons.
The dogs are being housed in one of SPCA’s kennels, and will later be worked with a trainer to begin rehabilitation.
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