Warning: One scene in the video is tough to watch, but it is a very important to watch and share. Ignoring the problem won’t make it go away, Mayor Bing.

— Kenn Bell

Monica Martino and Dan Carlisle want you to know that there are 50,000 stray dogs roaming the streets of Detroit.

The plans were all in place for a reality show that was to air on the Discovery Channel about the stray dog problem in Detroit, Michigan.

That was however, until the Motor City’s mayor denied the producers permission to film it.

In frustration at the decision by Mayor David Bing’s film office, which supposedly occurred because Bing was opposed to the negativity the series would add to Detroit’s already tarnished image, two of the filmmakers, executive producer Monica Martino and location scout Dan Carlisle — a local rapper known as Hush, have continued the fight by posting a short but shocking video on YouTube about the problem shortly after the city’s refusal to grant the permit.

“Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored,” they quote from English intellectual Aldous Huxley’s writings at the start of the disturbing four-minute film, which shows stray dogs wandering the city and in one case resorting to a form of infanticide to survive.??

“There are 50,000 dogs running loose in the city,” narrates Carlisle. “The city doesn’t want people to know there’s a stray dog problem. But there’s a big problem.”

??The four-minute film has since drawn more than 70,000 hits and the pair claim to have received more than $7,000 in donations to their newly created animal rescue charity, Detroit Dog Rescue.?

The duo filmed the footage independently in January after learning the film office had rejected the cable network’s plans for the 10-part series, called “A Dog’s Life,” focusing on the lives of strays.??

Carlisle now urges people to donate to their nonprofit Detroit Dog Rescue and to petition Mayor Bing over the decision.

“I know that Detroit is changing and nobody wants to see their city represent a national problem,” says Martino, a well-connected producer whose TV credits include “Whale Wars” on Animal Planet and “Deadliest Catch” on Discovery. “There’s a stray dog problem in every major city in the U.S. that’s had an economic decline. I don’t believe that sweeping it under the rug is the way to go,” she adds.??

The producers say the TV series would have raised public awareness of Detroit’s strays and generated even more donations.??

Carlisle says their quest for a TV show on the issue is not finished and they plan to continue their efforts to rescue Detroit’s stray dogs.