DOVER-FOXCROFT – The operator of a kennel where 92 English springer spaniels and puppies were seized last week is expected in District Court on Monday for a hearing on who will gain possession of the animals.

State and local authorities removed the animals last week from the kennel operated by Mark Hagelin and the home he shared with his father, Burton Hagelin.

Police Chief Dennis Dyer said Wednesday the home was uninhabitable, with 2 inches of standing dog urine on the floor in places and feces so thick that none of the rooms, including the bathroom, were usable.

Norma Worley, head of the state animal welfare program, said her organization is seeking custody of the dogs. All the Hagelin family dogs except one are at the Bangor Humane Society or the Kennebec Valley Humane Society in Augusta.

Meanwhile, Dover-Foxcroft officials have taken steps to declare the Hagelin home unfit for human habitation. “We are going to try to get it condemned and then possibly burn it,” Dyer said Wednesday.

Speaking by telephone from a Bangor motel Wednesday, Burton Hagelin, 73, disputed the allegations and said he wants to go home. He contends he was illegally removed from his house.

He said that Dyer said he would be arrested if he returned to the residence. Dyer, in an interview, said that it was the son, Mark, who was not allowed back onto the property because of bail conditions placed on him following charges lodged during the seizure.

Mark Hagelin was charged by a Maine State Police trooper with obstructing government administration after Hagelin allegedly tried to re-enter the family home after being told he could not go inside during the confiscation operation.

Also during the state’s seizure of the dogs, Burton Hagelin was taken by ambulance to Mayo Regional Hospital for an evaluation, Dyer said. Hagelin refused treatment, left, and has been staying at a motel in Bangor ever since.

Burton Hagelin, however, said he was tricked into going to the hospital. “My son [Mark] has anger issues. They were trying to prove he was abusing me,” he said.

Burton Hagelin said he was awakened about 11 a.m. Friday by volunteers wearing masks and paper suits. “I thought it was the Ku Klux Klan,” he said. “It scared me to death. My son and I were living there peacefully. What right do they have to take me out of my home?”

Rescue workers told a different story. They reported that the home was thick with feces and urine. A dead dog was found on the garage floor. A dog was discovered eating a dead puppy when officials arrived at the scene. More than 90 dogs were living inside the family home.

Officials at the Bangor Humane Society said earlier this week that the dogs in their care were infested with parasites and malnourished, some to the point of muscle atrophy.

Burton Hagelin said Wednesday that his son did not take proper care of the dogs. “He didn’t do what he should have done. He didn’t wash the kennel down every day,” he said. He also said his son “would not clean up the messes after the dogs in the house.”

Burton Hagelin said he built the kennel two years ago for his son. “I spent $35,000 and then spent another $2,000 to raise the fence higher,” he said. But the dogs were all in the house this spring because an excess of snow flooded the kennel, he said.

He said the 92 dogs were not housebroken. “You can’t housebreak that many dogs.” Hagelin also maintained that only two of the dogs belong to his son Mark. He said the remaining 89 animals belong to his wife and a second son but that one adult dog, an 8-year-old female named Mercedes, was his personal pet.

“She was my faithful companion,” he said. “She slept in my bed with me and they took her.” Hagelin also maintained that the officials missed a dog when they executed the seizure Friday. Hagelin said he found the dog when he returned home for some belongings. “If we hadn’t found her, she would have starved to death,” he said.

Dyer said the rescue workers were aware of the missing dog and had been unable to catch her. He said officials and neighbors were watching for the dog to return so it could be captured.

Aside from the obstruction charge, none of the Hagelins have been criminally charged, but state officials are submitting their report to the Piscataquis district attorney by the end of this week.