Update: 10 Dogs, 13 Cats Died in Last Week’s Fire; Property Not Licensed Kennel

The March 25 fire that destroyed a house in the 7600 block of Carson Avenue near North Point Road killed 10 dogs and 13 cats, according to Baltimore County officials—not a dozen dogs as was originally estimated by firefighters at the scene.

The homeowner and her family were not home during the fire, and no firefighters were injured controlling the two-alarm blaze. Baltimore County Fire Department investigators have determined the cause of the fire was electrical. Seven dogs are believed to have survived the fire.

The home's owner, Mary Snyder, is the founder and director of Maryland Animal Sanctuary. According to the organization’s website, the Maryland Animal Sanctuary has placed more than 1,000 dogs and cats in homes since it was founded in 2005.

Neighbors, friends, pet adopters and others in the rescue community have expressed deep sorrow in the aftermath of the fire. They praised Snyder’s dedication and work, offering support on the organization’s Facebook page and in online media.

According to Lionel van Dommelen, chief of Code Enforcement, Permits, Inspection and Approvals for Baltimore County, the Carson Avenue property was not licensed as either a transient or holding kennel. There is no application for a license on record.

Homes with more than three dogs in residential neighborhoods must be approved as a transient or holding kennel, and be licensed by the county, according to van Dommelen.

“It would require a special exemption from county zoning laws, meaning a public notice posting, review and hearing," Dommelen said. The fee for a transient kennel license, for animals staying a short period of time, is $25. The fee for a holding kennel license is $125.

There are no restrictions on the number of cats a homeowner may keep in his house.

Dommelen said his office does not plan to pursue a citation against Snyder for not having a license. He said he feels “it would be piling on” in the wake of the “horrible tragedy.”

Reached by telephone, Snyder did not wish to comment for this story.

After the flames were extinguished, firefighters helped pull four dogs to safety from a shed in the backyard. Snyder directed the firefighters to place the dogs into wire kennels at the side of the home. According to Darrell Wilson, whose sister lives next door to Snyder, a neighbor behind the Snyder home was able to save three dogs before the fire grew too intense.

Van Dommelen said inspections by code enforcement officers are complaint-driven, and there are no records in his office regarding complaints about the property on Carson Avenue. That indicates, he said, that the animals must have been well cared for. Dommelen said his office typically receives about one complaint a week about illegal kennels.

Mark Clark, a public information officer for the Baltimore County Department of Health, which oversees Baltimore County Animal Control, said his office was aware of the rescue facility on Carson Avenue. Animal Control was called to the property by firefighters, removing the body of one deceased dog. The rest of the animals were removed by a private animal hospital in Bel Air.

Clark said Animal Control works with about 100 kennels in the Baltimore region, as far as away as Pennsylvania, and Howard and Carroll Counties, but doesn’t work with the Maryland Animal Sanctuary because it is not a registered nonprofit. According to the Maryland Animal Sanctuary website, its nonprofit application is in process.

“There is nothing wrong with a rescue that chooses not to have a 501(c)3 license, we just can’t work with them without it,” Clark said. The fire, he added, “is a heartbreaking thing to have happened.”

Clark said the health department has had one complaint about the Carson Avenue property. The 2005 complaint centered on three unlicensed dogs and is still pending in district court, he said.

More information on Maryland Animal Rescue can be found at http://www.masrescue.org/.