Glen Carbon police served a search warrant at a home in the 200 block of Glen Carbon Road at about 9 a.m. Friday, discovering more than 20 animals inside the property, some alive and some dead. Officers had received a report of animal cruelty and found nearly 20 live dogs along with more than 10 deceased dogs at the residence, which had operated as a business called Trendy Tails and Training.
The scale of the discovery required a coordinated response from multiple agencies. According to RiverBender.com, Glen Carbon Police Chief Todd Link confirmed that the search involved assistance from the Madison County State's Attorney's Office, Edwardsville Police Department community service officers, the Madison County Emergency Management Agency, and rescue groups including Found A Hound Rescue, Metro East Humane Society, Partners for Pets, and Serendipity GSD Rescue. Police removed all of the animals from the home following the raid, as reported by First Alert 4.
Animals Triaged at Police Station Before Rescue Placement
Once removed from the property, the animals were assessed at the Glen Carbon Police Department by Hawthorn Animal Hospital, a 24-hour emergency and critical care veterinary facility on Cougar Drive in Glen Carbon, before being placed with rescue organizations for further medical care, per the same First Alert 4 report. Found A Hound Rescue, one of the nonprofits on scene, described the discovery in a Facebook post, saying the department “gained entry into the” property and found the dogs living amid the deceased animals.
The surviving dogs were dispersed among regional rescue partners equipped to handle emergency intake. Metro East Humane Society, which has operated a shelter at 8495 State Route 143 in nearby Edwardsville since 1986, provided emergency intake support, according to its own account on the Metro East Humane Society website. Partners for Pets, a Troy, Illinois-based nonprofit that has rescued and rehomed more than 29,000 animals across the Metro East and St. Louis area since 2003, also assisted with placements.
Complaints Piled Up Before Police Ever Showed Up
The raid did not come out of nowhere. Found A Hound Rescue had posted public warnings earlier in August about Trendy Tails and Training after a dog named Chance, placed in an eight-week board-and-train program in May, was reported lost on August 4. Pet owners had reportedly complained of a lack of updates and missing pets in the weeks leading up to the search.
Beyond the missing-dog reports, local animal rescue advocates had filed formal complaints with the City of Glen Carbon and the Illinois Department of Agriculture, alleging that Trendy Tails and Training was running an unlicensed commercial boarding and kennel operation out of a residential home, according to Found A Hound Rescue. Illinois regulations require specific licensing for commercial animal care facilities, a requirement the complaints alleged was never met.
What Charges Could Look Like Under Illinois Law
No charges have been filed yet, and police say the investigation remains ongoing. Under the Illinois Humane Care for Animals Act, basic animal neglect or failure to provide adequate care is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and $2,500 in fines, while aggravated cruelty causing severe injury or death rises to a Class 4 felony carrying one to three years in prison and fines up to $25,000, per the Illinois General Assembly. Prosecutors would need to prove intentional or reckless harm to secure a felony aggravated cruelty charge rather than a misdemeanor neglect finding.
Illinois law also carries consequences that extend well past sentencing. Under a separate statute, anyone convicted of a felony under the Humane Care for Animals Act is barred from owning, possessing, or even residing in a home with unspayed or unneutered dogs, with violations of that restriction enforceable as a Class A misdemeanor. That provision applies automatically upon a felony cruelty conviction, according to the Illinois General Assembly. For now, the Madison County State's Attorney's Office is still evaluating the case, and Glen Carbon police have not announced an arrest.
