CADILLAC — A Northern Michigan animal control center, struggling to take in many more animals.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office is in charge of animal control for the county.
Sheriff Rich Martin said it’s because of an animal cruelty case that’s been going on for more than a year and a half.
“We’ve been in a bad spot for a very long time because with that volume of one case, with that many animals, it really limits the things that we can do. My hands have been tied in the whole situation of being able to do anything about it,” said Martin.
He said they have 10 dogs and six cats they have been sheltering since June 3rd of 2024, that’s more than half of the room they have at the shelter, with room for just 20 dogs and nine cats.
“it’s affected us several times over the last year because there’s been times where we’ve needed to take custody and unfortunately, we just couldn’t do it,” said Martin.
He said that includes open spots that they keep open for both a cat or dog, reserved for emergency cases.
Martin said the animals are part of a Michigan State Police animal abuse investigation against a woman who used to live in the area.
Michelle Dallaire is facing a felony count of animal cruelty.
The sheriff said she is an attorney who was practicing animal law. Her license has been suspended in connection to this case.
Martin said there have been attempts to resolve this with previous prosecutors but the revolving door at the prosecutor’s office in the past few years stopped that from happening.
“The past assistant prosecutor was going to give a reduced charge, almost a year ago. But obviously the election happened. Things have changed. And then we had some difficulty with the newly elected prosecutor,” said Martin.
He said this has impacted the shelter financially but they have been reimbursed by Dallaire for housing, food, and vet bills. Some animals were really sick at first
“In excess of $40,000 has been paid directly to us to pay us back for the services that we provided by housing them. But that doesn’t change the fact that I still can’t get rid of them,” said Martin.
He said that won’t happen until the case is over and a judge allows them to.
Dallaire’s pre-trial is set for February 12.
She could get up to to four years behind bars, a $500,000 fine, up to 500 community hours or a combination of penalties.
The sheriff said if the case drags on they may have to look into other options.
“We’re doing the best we can with what we have. And hopefully things change here soon,” said Martin.