# Michigan Democrat El-Sayed faces backlash over Detroit dog and cat kills 2026-08-16T02:43:48+00:00 | World & Diplomacy | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed is under scrutiny after records emerged showing that over 4,000 dogs and cats were euthanised during his tenure as Detroit health director. Fox News Digital reported that a former employee had branded the city's animal control department a 'slaughterhouse'. Daily Mail reported that 4,680 animals were euthanised in the period around El-Sayed's tenure. In the first full calendar year under his health department, 1,056 dogs and 29 cats were killed. A 2015 whistleblower lawsuit by former officer Brittany Roberts alleged filthy conditions, inadequate food and medical care, and that animals were neglected until they died. El-Sayed's campaign pointed to improvement: the live-release rate rose from about 20-26% in 2015 to 61-62% by late 2016. Former mayor Mike Duggan called the earlier rate 'unacceptable'. Animal lovers on social media have called on PETA to respond, with posts asking, 'Where are you @peta?'. ## Coverage - hindustantimes.com This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Tags: Abdul El-Sayed, Daily Mail, Detroit, Fox News Digital Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/michigan-democrat-el-sayed-faces-backlash-over-detroit-dog-and-cat-kills/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/michigan-democrat-el-sayed-faces-backlash-over-detroit-dog-and-cat-kills/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes. How this brief was made: an AI model read the report linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/