A DeLand man sentenced to probation for felony animal cruelty was being held Sunday at the Volusia County Branch Jail until a bed becomes available at a residential treatment center where he was ordered to check in, court records show.
Kevin Proulx, 57, was sentenced Thursday to six years probation after pleading no contest to six counts of felony animal cruelty.
According to DeLand police, Proulx was arrested July 7, 2023 after a dog was found dead along with five other emaciated canines at his Pursley Drive home.
A neighbor, who described Proulx as an alcoholic, called to report barking dogs at the home and asked for a well-being check, police said.
Officers arriving at the home knocked on the door and no one immediately answered. They noticed two dogs in the yard barking. A further check of the house revealed a 9-month-old hound mix dead near an air-conditioning unit. The deceased dog appeared to be trying to get water from the home’s AC unit, police wrote in an arrest report.
Proulx eventually walked out of the house, investigators said, claimed he was having a heart attack and was taken to the hospital, where he declined to speak with investigators.
Police and animal control officers had to use a mask to enter the house that was full of dog feces and had a foul odor, the arrest report said.
Six dogs were seized including a 4-year-old German shorthaired pointer, a 4-year-old Weimaraner, and three additional hound-mix puppies believed to be 9-months-old, investigators said.
The dogs did not have food and water, police said.
A veterinarian at DeLand Animal Hospital said the dogs were severely emaciated and underweight, and appeared to have been starving for two to three weeks, the arrest report states.
The veterinarian concluded that the situation for the dogs in Proulx’s house was one of “survival of the fittest,” investigators said.