PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. — A Putnam County man was arrested after neighbors say he allowed more than 30 aggressive huskies to terrorize the neighborhood and each other.
Mark Plosila, 67, is now charged with animal cruelty after a months-long investigation.
The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office says his arrest follows a civil lawsuit filed by nearby neighbors earlier this year.
One of the plaintiffs, Linda Wagner, said the dogs — more than 30 of them — just grew more and more aggressive over the years.
“We personally watched four different dogs be attacked by the rest of the animals on the property, and trying to defend themselves until they were so exhausted they just had to lay there, and the other dogs kept attacking,” Wagner said. “It was heart-wrenching.”
The civil suit claims a 7-year-old girl and 4-year-old boy heard the sounds coming from one of the dogs killed in the attack.
“She was very upset, and you can go inside. You still hear it when a dog is screaming in pain,” Wagner said. “[You] feel so helpless.”
Wagner said she, too, was almost attacked.
“I was trying to fend them off, and I was yelling for help. One of them started going around to the other side of me,” Wagner said. “Luckily, a man in a truck came by and saw what was happening, [and] he moved his truck in between me and the dogs.”
The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office said that out of 36 dogs, 15 had to be euthanized because they were so aggressive. They also removed 11 puppies, for which they are looking for foster homes.
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Wagner said it should’ve never had to come to this.
“Animal control needs authority to act in these cases. They need to be able to go on these properties,” Wagner said. “They had to sit with us one time and watch one of those dogs get killed, and that was tough.”
Justin Delle, a former officer with Putnam County Animal Control Services, said these dogs were exceptionally violent.
There were so many dogs there that were fighting. They were killing each other, I mean, ripping each other to shreds,” Delle said. “We’re just lucky that no one actually died in this.”
Delle said he worked directly with Wagner and the county to do everything he could think of to remedy the situation. Despite constant attempts at contacting Plosila, he refused to cooperate.
“He just ignored every effort that I ever had to communicate with him,” Delle said. “I made it clear to my supervisors, to my higher-ups, that this is a situation that is a ticking time bomb. This will erupt.”
Delle said that without Plosila’s compliance, there’s only so much animal control can do.
Deputy County Administrator Julianne Young said it wasn’t until a recent court order stemming from the civil suit that law enforcement was able to get involved.
“Related to the first court order, we witnessed one of the weaker dogs being tethered on a short tether underneath one of the dilapidated cars, and the pack of animals began attacking it,” Young said.
“At the time we were there, we knew that the owner was home, and he failed to ever make any attempt to stop the animal from being attacked or being harmed by his other animals.”
The sheriff’s office said that because they witnessed that the owner was aware of the attack and did not do anything to stop it, they were finally able to charge Plosila with one act of animal cruelty.
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Unfortunately, they said that, as of now, there is no proof that Plosila was aware of the other attacks, so they cannot bring additional charges. However, Director of Law Enforcement Savis Ussery said more charges are possible as the investigation continues.
But Delle said it shouldn’t have taken a lawsuit to save these dogs. Instead, animal control services should be able to write citations and enforce violations.
“There are a lot of opinions from people that animal control is not doing their job, or that they’re not doing their part,” Dell said. “There is nothing that they would not do for this community, as much as is within their power, though. That’s the thing that people need to understand: there’s only so much that they’re allowed to do by law.”
Action News Jax reached out to the Putnam Board of County Commissioners for clarification on why animal control does not have this authority. We’re still waiting for a response.
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