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Hundreds Of Complaints To City About Animal Neglect Left Unanswered

CHICAGO (CBS) -- During some of the coldest days of this winter, Chicago Animal Care and Control left dozens of calls unanswered about possible inhumane treatment of pets. Overall, more than 300 such calls got no response in December an January.

WBBM Newsradio's Steve Miller continues our series of reports.

At the beginning of this record-setting winter, Chicago Animal Care and Control posted a reminder for pet owners to take care of their dogs and cats.

Hundreds Of Complaints To City About Animal Neglect Left Unanswered

The city got a lot of calls about pets that might have been in danger when temperatures dropped below zero during 15 days in December and January.

Yet by the end of January, 134 of those calls made when the weather was below zero were still unanswered.

In fact, in all of December and January, more than 300 calls about possible mistreatment of pets were not acted on.

The city of Chicago has been dealing with a backlog of hundreds of calls about animals possibly being mistreated.

"What I would say is, I would encourage people to provide their information. I hope you emphasize that 75 percent of these calls were anonymous," said Brad Powers, assistant to the director of Chicago Animal Care and Control. "Providing information anonymously makes enforcement very difficult."

Yet the city's website - where you can report inhumane treatment - only requires you to say what kind of mistreatment is going on and where it's happening.

There is no requirement to give your name, implying the city will check it those complaints anyway.

Records obtained by WBBM show 44 open cases dating back to September – meaning no real response from the city to calls that were four months old.

One call still listed on January 31 as "open" by Chicago Animal Care and Control went all the way back to August.

For part one of Steve Miller's series, click here.

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