Animal cruelty: Cargo service cited over 18 dogs warehoused for 3 days without food or water; one dog died

A cargo service has been cited for animal cruelty and neglect by the city of Chicago, after 18 dogs were left in a warehouse for three days without food or water, and one dog died.

Chicago police say they were tipped off to the neglected dogs, but one died before they were able to intervene.

The dogs arrived on an airplane at O'Hare International Airport on Friday, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wouldn't release them to their owners over paperwork issues related to vaccination regulations. They had been shipped on the 13-hour flight from Amman, Jordan, to Chicago.

Police found the dogs on Monday afternoon and investigators learned that one dog had died on Sunday.

An animal shelter took in 15 dogs after the police saved them, and Chicago Animal Care and Control accepted the remaining two.

Company denies the charges

Warren Jones, the vice president of Alliance Ground International, told WMAQ-TV that their employees did not neglect the dogs, but instead "did everything they could to take care" of them.

Jones claimed that his employees placed the dogs into an air-condition part of the warehouse after washing them and feeding them.

"It's challenging. We move animals every week. We've never had a loss of an animal at our company in 30 years," Jones added. Alliance Ground International is based in Miami.

Chicago Animal Care and Control spokeswoman Jenny Schlueter said that the dogs were all German shepherds.

In 2019, President Donald Trump signed the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act into law. The bipartisan legislation made animal cruelty and torture a federal felony that could carry a punishment of up to seven years in federal prison.

Here's a local news report about the horrendous incident:

Dogs Stranded At O'Hare Without Food Or Water; 1 Dead, 17 Rescuedwww.youtube.com