El-Sayed in the hot seat after 'sickening' animal control record goes viral on social media

Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed is facing renewed scrutiny over his tenure as Detroit health director, during which Detroit's animal control department was beset by allegations of animal mistreatment and reportedly branded a "dog slaughterhouse" by a former employee.

Detroit Animal Care and Control’s (DACC) live-release rate was roughly 20% to 26% when El-Sayed inherited the operation in late 2015 but climbed to about 61% to 62% by late 2016 — an improvement his campaign points to in arguing that the raw number of animals euthanized during his tenure obscures a turnaround from the dire conditions and euthanasia rates he inherited.

The Daily Mail reported that records covering the period surrounding El-Sayed’s tenure showed 4,680 dogs and cats were euthanized, with 1,056 dogs and 29 cats getting euthanized in the first full calendar year DACC was under El-Sayed’s Health Department.

After winning a bruising primary against Rep.

Haley Stevens, D-Mich., El-Sayed is asking Michigan voters to send him to the U.S.

Senate, but his record running Detroit’s Health Department and the troubled animal-control operation under its authority has generated renewed scrutiny.

BIDEN-WORLD VETERAN ISSUES STARK WARNING ABOUT ABDUL EL-SAYED AS HE CROSSES PARTY LINES "I actually really really don't want to believe this.

Can someone verify?" questioned Michael LaRosa, former first lady Jill Biden's one-time press secretary.

"This is sickening.

Abdul El-Sayed wants Michiganders to trust him with their families," El-Sayed's Republican opponent, Mike Rogers, wrote on X.

"Meanwhile, Detroiters couldn’t even trust him with their pets." The scrutiny stems in part from an October 2015 whistleblower lawsuit filed by former Detroit Animal Control officer Brittany Roberts, who alleged animals died from inadequate food and medical care, were kept in filthy conditions and were subjected to other mistreatment, according to The Daily Mail.

Roberts also reportedly alleged she was demeaned, harassed and ultimately fired after reporting the problems.

The lawsuit landed the same month — and shortly before — the city moved Animal Control from the Detroit Police Department to the Health Department led by El-Sayed.

"I was almost embarrassed with myself to be part of a team that played a role of the death of so many dogs in their cages," Roberts said in 2015 as she accused the agency of neglect and mistreatment, according to The Daily Mail.