MARLIN, Texas — Editor's Note | Videos and images that can be viewed in the embedded Facebook post contain graphic content and may be disturbing to some readers.
Members of the Marlin community are outraged after several videos and images of malnourished dogs living in their own feces were shared to Facebook on Tuesday, Jan. 9.
In the post made by Jeffrey Rich, he states that he went to the Marlin Animal Control Center in order to look for a lost dog of his, but what he found instead was an absolutely horrific scene.
The images even show one dog that appears to be lying dead on its bed in the kennel. The dog's ribs and hips can clearly be seen due to its presumed malnourishment.
Dozens of people have been commenting and sharing the post made by Rich, some are even taking to the City of Marlin's Facebook page, pleading for them to correct these living conditions for the dogs and criticizing their lack of public acknowledgment of the issue.
6 News was on scene Tuesday when the Marlin Police Chief, James Hommel, and some other city staff were on site cleaning up the kennels and tending to the animals. Hommel talked to 6 News about the now viral claims.
"We were made aware that there was a dead dog this morning," Hommel said. "Myself and a council member was here yesterday evening. We walked through the kennels last night. I had an animal control person come in this morning, and she fed and watered the dogs this morning. The dog was not dead this morning."
Hommel said the animal control officer reports to him. He said an animal control person visits the MACC "twice a day to feed and clean the dogs."
"These are some of the dogs that we do pick up off the streets, so that is the main thing, some of these dogs came in this way," Hommell added.
The police chief said the facility is able to hold up to 24 dogs, but there were only nine dogs there as of the morning of January 9. 6 News asked Hommel if there had been any wrongdoing at the MACC. Here is his response:
"I think we need training on cleaning the kennels," Hommel added. "Maybe we haven't been cleaning them as good as maybe we should have been cleaning them. We're going to look at our policies and go over policies and make sure that we're being trained to make sure that they're cleaned properly and taken care of properly."
Hommel did tell 6 News he asked Rich to take down his Facebook post on Tuesday morning.
"I did," the police chief said. "But told him that we were going to take care of the problem and that's what my whole intention is, to take care of the problem."
A vet was reportedly at the MACC on Tuesday checking on the dogs and providing feedback to the police chief on what they can do to better serve the animals coming in.
An outside investigation is underway by the Falls County Sheriff's Office, too.
"I think we need to step in," said Sheriff Joe Lopez. "I think it'd be improper for the city to handle this type of situation in-house. It's not going to look good for them. We're not going to take sides. We will put down what we see, what we know for a fact and maybe turn it over to the District Attorney's Office to see what they want to do from that point."
Lopez didn't see the alleged neglect himself, but he did see the post on social media. He described it as upsetting and something that should have never happened.
"You've got to have the time to take care of a dog or whatever it may be and if you don't have the time, you have no business," Lopez added. "Especially if you're a professional, especially if you're getting paid to tend to these types of animals, then this should have never happened."
Local animal rescues were also on scene Tuesday helping to tend to the dogs and the kennels.
This is a developing story and 6 News will continue to update with the latest