13 Dogs Removed From Feces, Urine-Soaked Cobb Home

KENNESAW, GA -- A man who fostered dogs at his Kennesaw home was arrested and charged with animal cruelty after authorities found the animals living in squalid conditions, Patch has learned. Kennesaw police recently paid a visit to the home in the 3900 block of Lullwater Main and found more than a dozen pets living in feces and urine.

In all, police took 13 dogs -- 10 of them pit bulls -- from David William Edwards' home in the 3900 block of Lullwater Main, according to news reports. City building staff deemed the home "unsafe" to enter after an inspection, posting a sign on the front door.

A police report said that conditions were so bad at the home that an officer's eyes, throat and lungs burned as he walked throughout the house, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Feces and urine from upstairs had even begun to seep into rooms downstairs, the officer recounted. SIGN UP: To get notified of more local news like this, click here to sign up for the Kennesaw Patch. Or find your Atlanta-area town here. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app.

According to an animal blog called fourleggedfriendsandenemies.com, Edwards is the founder of Atlanta Pit Bull Networking (APBN), a group that advocates for pit bulls and helps locate foster homes for them.

The group was formed "primarily for the purpose of saving the lives of pit bulls and pit bull mixes in danger of being euthanized at Metro Atlanta area shelters," a blog post on the site says.

The report also cites drywall and furniture that had been chewed up by the animals, and exposed electrical wires throughout the house. Police were called to the home in late March because of barking dogs, the newspaper reports.

“I do not believe this happened overnight,” Michele Lopez, who owns dog rescue group Rescue Refuge, told the AJC. She said she inspected Edwards' home last October to see if it would make a good foster environment. She gave the home a thumbs-up then.

“I can’t say it was like going to the perfume counter at Macy’s,” she was quote as saying. There was supposed to be another inspection in April, but it was reportedly delayed for unknown reasons.

Edwards was arrested on May 11 and made bond of $8,470 the following day, the AJC reports.

Ammonia levels in the home -- typically 2 parts per million in kennels -- was between 17 and 48 ppm, police reported said.

Image via Cobb County Sheriff's Office