Abdul El-Sayed, the progressive Michigan Senate candidate, has built much of his appeal around his medical background and a promise to fight for universal healthcare.
Less scrutinized, however, is his time overseeing Detroit’s embattled animal-control system, an operation that recorded significant euthanasia numbers during his tenure.
El-Sayed served from 2015 to 2017 as executive director and health officer of the Detroit Health Department, a senior city role that placed Detroit Animal Control under his authority during a deeply troubled period for the agency.
When he launched his 2017 run for governor, El-Sayed highlighted that experience in an ABC News profile, saying his team had “rebuilt the animal control system.”
Records obtained by Our News Outlet show that nearly 4,680 dogs and cats were euthanized by Detroit Animal Care and Control, known as DACC, while El-Sayed held his position at the Detroit Health Department.
The totals were especially high in 2015, when DACC euthanized 1,988 dogs and 272 cats, amounting to 2,260 animals that year.
That number accounted for 26.4 percent of all dogs euthanized in the county, according to the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Animal Shelter Annual Report.
DACC did not publicly report its 2016 euthanasia figures, but records cited in an exclusive report obtained by Our News Outlet show the agency euthanized 1,056 dogs and 29 cats that year.
Nearly 4,680 dogs and cats were euthanized by Detroit Animal Care and Control (DACC) during the years 2015 to 2017 when El-Sayed served as health officer and executive director of the Detroit Health Department, according to records obtained by Our News Outlet
The DACC did not release its 2016 euthanasia figures, according to records
In 2015 former DACC employee Brittany Roberts, alleged in a lawsuit that animals at Detroit Animal Control were subjected to overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, records were improperly maintained and dogs were not routinely scanned for microchips before being euthanized
Roberts also accused the department of serious animal-care and management failures, including inadequate care of sick and injured animals and dogs being left in cages without proper exercise or attention
A dog pictured in an outdoor cage surrounded by feces
That year, one dog was mistakenly euthanized while it was supposed to be at DACC only for a mandatory rabies quarantine, as reported by WXYZ 7 News Detroit.
One Michigander Theresa Sumpter wrote on Facebook at the time: ‘2016 shelter reports are in, except for Detroit Animal Controls not posted yet. Michigan Anti-Cruelty Society killing more dogs than anyone!’
According to The Detroit News, in 2017, DACC euthanized a further 1,404 dogs and 13 cats.
The DACC had only about a 20 percent save/live-release rate in 2015, according to animal rescue site Best Friends, meaning roughly 80 percent of animals were not released alive.
The number improved in the Best Friends’ 2016 report – bumping up to 60 percent. The site notes that it was a ‘dramatic improvement’ from the DACC’s 2012 baseline of just 3 percent. In 2017, it says the save rate was 63 percent.
The Daily Mail reached out to the DACC for comment. A spokesperson for the organization said that data on euthanasia is not released publicly.
Meanwhile, just shortly after El-Sayed took over Detroit’s health department in August 2015, former animal-control officer Brittany Roberts filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the City of Detroit and related defendants alleging widespread mistreatment and dysfunction inside the shelter.
In the October 2015 lawsuit, Roberts claimed that animals at Detroit Animal Control were subjected to overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, that records were improperly maintained, and that dogs were not routinely scanned for microchips before euthanasia.
She also accused the department of serious animal-care and management failures, including inadequate care of sick and injured animals and dogs being left in cages without proper exercise or attention.
She claimed she was harassed and ultimately fired after raising concerns about conditions at the facility.
FOX 2 Detroit reported at the time that Roberts described the shelter as a ‘dog slaughterhouse.’ Photographs she provided appeared to show dogs surrounded by blood, vomit and feces.
Detroit initially disputed rather than admitted Roberts’s allegations. After Roberts filed her whistleblower lawsuit, the city said it would respond in court and did not concede the alleged misconduct. The case was ultimately settled in 2016 for $63,000, without a judicial determination that all of Roberts’s allegations were true.
Melissa Jackson took Coco (pictured) to the Detroit Animal Care and Control center after she crawled under a fence and bit a neighbor’s dog. Michigan law requires any dog that bites another to be quarantined for 10 days and tested for rabies. However, just one day into her stay, Coco was killed
The Facebook group Citizens for Change for Detroit Dogs and Cats called out El-Sayed for citing the inaccurate estimate that 100,000 stray animals were roaming Detroit’s streets, insinuating that he was using the statistic to stoke fear
A Detroit reporter claimed El-Sayed did not want media covering the shelter, allegedly saying ‘it’s already reeling and cameras aer killing the team’s moral.’
At a protest in October 2015, El-Sayed acknowledged that Detroit Animal Control had serious problems, describing the situation as a ‘systematic failure’
The controversy erupted as El-Sayed’s Health Department was taking control of the operations.
At a protest in October 2015, El-Sayed acknowledged that Detroit Animal Control had serious problems, describing the situation as a ‘systematic failure’ and saying he did not believe it was fair to place the blame on one individual.
That individual was Harry Ward, the animal-control director who had become the focus of intense criticism from protesters and former employees.
Ward acknowledged that the facility had problems, including rats and cockroaches, but defended his department’s efforts to care for animals under difficult circumstances.
He also faced criticism over his handling of seized animals and the presence of his own dog at the city shelter, where the public questioned whether public resources were being used appropriately. The growing controversy sparked protests and demands for Ward’s removal, and he was replaced as director in December 2015.
The animal-control protests caused a confrontation between El-Sayed and local media.
A FOX 2 reporter, Hannah Saunders, publicly discussed El-Sayed’s efforts to discourage coverage of protests at Detroit Animal Control.
In a Facebook post she wrote that he asked her not to cover any more protests at Detroit Animal Control.
She claimed he told her in a text, ‘Could you please avoid it? It’s already reeling and cameras are killing the team’s morale [sic].’
El-Sayed claimed that the FOX 2 reporter does ‘not cover things objectively.’
The Facebook group Citizens for Change for Detroit Dogs & Cats featured numerous pleas for new leadership at Detroit Animal Control throughout 2015, with residents posting photographs and evidence they said showed deplorable conditions and neglected animals.
The account also called out El-Sayed over his claim to Fox 2 Detroit in November 2015 that there were 100,000 stray animals roaming Detroit’s streets, disputing the figure and accusing him of inaccurately portraying the scale of the problem.
‘We need to make sure that we’re doing our best by 100,000 dogs in the city. Perhaps more importantly, we need to make sure that the public health risk that’s posed by that many stray animals in the city is mitigated. It’s a hard balance to find but we’re doing our best to find it,’ El-Sayed said.
The Facebook group accused him of trying to ‘create panic in Detroit.’
‘That’s 700 per square mile or a few hundred per city block. That’s totally impossible.’
The Daily Mail reached out to El-Sayed’s campaign for comment, which defended his record overseeing ‘the most significant humane-care turnarounds in Michigan.’
A campaign spokesperson admitted that the Detroit Animal Control was operating under ‘outdated, inhumane procedures’ that threatened public safety before he arrived.
‘Under his leadership, Detroit reversed its save rate entirely, placing nearly 80 percent of animals into loving homes because of Abdul’s implemented changes,’ the campaign claimed.
The campaign did not comment on why the 2016 euthanasia figures were not publicly disclosed.
