Dog Lovers, must read! Here's YOUR Liberal Democrats! Abdul El-Sayed's record as the executive director of the Detroit Health Department from 2015 to 2017, during which thousands of shelter animals were euthanized. Critics and political opponents have highlighted that over 4,000 dogs and cats were put down amid severe facility disrepair and high historical kill rates. This wasn't nessesary! These animals could have been transfered to other facilities.