Complaint filed with Collier County Sheriff’s Office after video of dogs on trailer surfaces

The Collier County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed that a complaint was filed after a woman recorded a video and took pictures of dogs being hauled on the back of a trailer. The woman who recorded the video actually works at a German Shepard rescue center and spoke with WINK News Anchor and Reporter Nicole Gabe this afternoon.

Janis Mlekoday was angry when she saw the dogs being mistreated so she took her cell phone out, recorded a video, and snapped some pictures. Mlekoday says while some dogs were in cages, others were just standing on the back of the truck.

“Yeah, tethered, with no place to go and scared to death,” she said.

She then made this Facebook post to call attention to what she’d seen.

Janis said she had to say something because she knows others have witnessed things like this but might not have spoken out. “I know this is not the first time and I know people have seen similar acts. This was my first time witnessing this and it was just heart wrenching.”

She works at a dog rescue and says she had heard of horror stories like this but never witnessed it first hand.

CCSO says they received an animal complaint report on Friday at 8:26 a.m., tracing to the 13000 block of Immokalee Road in Naples. Deputies went, but could not find the driver or the truck.

“As they pulled onto Immokalee Road, he was trying to grab his feet, he was trying to catch his feet so that he doesn’t fall down. He’s scared, his ears are back. He was terrified and I was afraid for him,” Mlekoday said, describing what she saw.

Darcy Andrade, director of Domestic Animal Control Services, says what these photos depict is indeed illegal. “One of the animals was clearly not confined, or in [a] proper enclosure while on the back of the flatbed.”

Mlekoday said to remember that animals are family, too, and no one deserves to be treated that way. “They are flesh and blood just like we are. You need to take care of your animals. You don’t treat them like they are second rate citizens. You need to protect them because you are their advocate, you need to take care of them.”