Suffolk SPCA removes 25 dogs living in 'deplorable' conditions in Bay Shore home of Robin Mills

The Suffolk County SPCA rescued 25 dogs from a Bay Shore home with "absolutely deplorable" conditions on Tuesday, officials said.

SPCA Chief of Department Roy Gross said they received a call from the Suffolk County Police Department regarding barking dogs allegedly left unattended without food and water for multiple days at the Richland Boulevard home of Robin Mills.

A search warrant was executed later Tuesday, during which the 25 dogs were removed from inside and outside the house.

When the officers entered the house with "absolutely deplorable" conditions, "the smell of ammonia was pushing them back," Gross said.

"The smell was so overwhelming in there that these animals were living in, feces, garbage, urine-soaked floors, fly infestation, dead and alive, with extremely high levels of ammonia," he said during a news conference at the SPCA office in Smithtown on Thursday.

The dogs were found inside and outside the house, with the fire department having to cut planks from the deck to access some of the animals. The skeletal remains of an unknown animal were found upstairs in the house, officials said.

The Suffolk County Fire Marshal marked the house as uninhabitable.

The dogs were inoculated for rabies, and will have any other issues addressed before they are deemed ready for adoption, officials said.

Gross also thanked the community "for stepping up, for making the call."

Some neighbors said they had contacted the police and town government about the house, and were frustrated by the lack of response.

"I’ve contacted basically any resource you can think of," said Dani Zaragoza, a neighbor of Mills.

She said she reached out to the town, public safety, nonemergency, and more, but was "aggravated by the same responses, ‘Oh, we can't really do anything.’ "

In 2017, Mills was convicted of multiple counts of animal cruelty after over 20 dogs and one exotic bird were found living in the same house, and in the same type of conditions as the dogs found on Tuesday, officials said.

Although Gross declined to comment on a possible arrest of Mills, he did say "it is an ongoing investigation and it is a criminal investigation" and they will "work with the district attorney's office as far as bringing charges or not against this person."