Warning to animal lovers, you are not going to like this one.
First, a little backstory. Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake has had some problems with his boys. Specifically, his son Tanner, who last year got busted for racist and homophobic tweets on his Twitter feed, which forced his father to make a public apology, as well as faking a suicide attempt on YouTube. Rather humiliating, yes, but perhaps one can argue that Tanner is a dumb teenager with unlimited internet access and a father who isn't paying enough attention to him.
But now another of Flake's sons is in trouble. And this is a little more serious:
Seventeen dogs being held at Green Acre boarding house in Maricopa County, Arizona, were revealed to be dead Saturday morning while under the care of the senator’s son Austin Flake and his wife, sources told the station. The couple had been tasked with managing the facility while the owners were out of town.
Uh oh. Mass dead dogs? I don't think Michael Vick needs to tell you that's never a good thing for you.
More details here:
The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office said it appears one of the dogs chewed through a wire that powered the air-conditioning in the section of the home where the dogs were kept. The owners told deputies the power went out sometime between Thursday night and Friday morning. Owners of the deceased dogs claim they were not notified until Saturday morning.
And needless to say, they are not happy:
“I demanded. I got in the owners face,” said Valerie Collins who left her two dogs in the care of the Green Acre boarding house near Gilbert. “We went out of the front and he carried my Daisy who was lifeless. I prayed that they were still alive and [the facility's owner] just threw her at my feet like a piece of meat.”
While Collins and her husband waited to claim their dogs, other dog owners began showing up.
“We had no idea how many dogs we would find that day that were dead,” said Collins. “I hurt inside knowing that my dogs died a horrible death, and we just want to know what happened and we feel like this is crime."
Double uh oh. More on the younger Flake's involvement:
MCSO says the owners of the boarding facility were in Florida at the time of the accident and left their son and daughter in-law in charge. Through various sources, including owners of the deceased dogs, FOX 10 has been able to confirm Austin Flake, son of Arizona Senator Jeff Flake, was supposed to be watching over the property with his wife when the accident happened.
“A text that was sent to me from the owner said that his daughter and son-in-law would be caring for them and they would be back shortly,” said Collins, who also claims she saw Flake the day she picked up her dogs. “He was in the living room when my husband opened the door. He ran to the back of the house when my husband entered the house.”
Perhaps they should have started Austin on something simpler, like goldfish.
And just like with Tanner, Big Daddy Senator is getting dragged into it:
In a statement, US Senator Jeff Flake said, “I learned of this tragic accident yesterday. I can't imagine the devastating loss these families are experiencing. My heart goes out to the owners who lost their beloved pets."
You may have to do better than that, Senator, especially with the pet owners
demanding autopsies and hinting at legal action:
One family remained on vacation in Southern California. Shannon Gillette called CBS 5 News from Disneyland, where she was trying to celebrate her son's birthday.
"We're trying to tell [the children] we're never going to see [the dogs] again. They don't understand." Gillette said. "They said, 'We can just go pick them up from the hospital,' and we can't because they're dead and they were killed."
Gillette, like many other families, don't believe this was a tragic accident. Instead, they're convinced what happened at Green Acre over Thursday night was an act of neglect.
Collins said the lies these families were told, the conflicting stories, nothing is adding up.
"To know it was such a brutal death, it's not right," Collins said. "So many lies were told, and we just want the truth to come out."
At least Tanner Flake can say he isn't the disappointing Flake son anymore.