Mayor Denies Backlog Of Animal Neglect Complaints

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Mayor Rahm Emanuel denied the city has a backlog of unchecked complaints to Chicago's Animal Care and Control, despite hundreds of calls getting no response, some since as far back as August.

WBBM Newsradio's Steve Miller continues our series of reports about the city's Animal Care and Control.

We got a tip that Chicago Animal Care and Control wasn't keeping up; that it wasn't responding to a lot of calls about possible inhumane treatment of animals.

So we asked for documents. They sent us a list of more than 400 they hadn't responded to, as of February 1.

"There's 412 calls listed there, and that's about - you mentioned, going back to August. So of all the calls in that type-code going back to August, it's about 16.5 percent of the total calls," said Animal Care and Control spokesman Brad Powers.

WBBM asked the mayor this week if that was acceptable.

"I have different data and we're not backlogged. That said, we'll work with you and get you the information you need," Emanuel said.

And we will be updating the story in the days to come.