On Monday, Fuquay-Varina Police received a request from Wake County Animal Control to check on reports of abandoned animals at a home in the 800 block of Wilbon Road.
When animal control officers got there, they found nine dogs in what they called "severe unsanitary living conditions," and removed them from the premises.
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The dogs' owner, 64-year-old Michael Thomas Duke, was initially charged with nine felony counts of animal cruelty, but those charges were later dismissed because "no evidence of maliciousness or killing of an animal" was found.
Duke will instead be charged with misdemeanors.
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