UPDATE 1/28/03 PART 2 on the Montana Collies

Statement by AWCA President Jean Levitt, from Shelby, MT

*Permission to crosspost*

 Trial

Defense called Athena Lethcoe-Harmon to the stand most of Tuesday. She acted in a passionate and caring manner and explained how she is saving the collie breed from CEA. SULTAN her normal-eyed, non-carrier, supposedly #10 dog in the US in 1996, was again mentioned.

**It is unclear what he was #10 of. According to 1996 statistics on the Hawkin's System, All Breed System, Collie Expressions System and Breed System, SULTAN was not #10 of any of them.**

Ms Harmon described her careful breeding program. She went into great detail on movement and angulation, pointing out the collie is a herding dog and must move in a flowing manner. In an effort to discredit other breeders and thereby elevate herself, she described champion collies who "can't even get out of their pens" and "who shuffle and trip over mats" in the show ring.

Speaking about PANACHE, the pregnant dog who rode in the bed of the passenger cab instead of the truck, she explained that PANACHE is a champion and a "great producer." The litter this dog whelped at the Marias Fairground is at least her 4th. Ms Harmon listed the number of puppies in her first 3 litters, explaining Dr. Murphy's requirement of several litters of 7 puppies each to determine a CEA non-carrier.  PANACHE according to Ms Harmon is 4 years old.

PANACHE is valuable for other reasons, too. She alerts Ms Harmon when her blood sugar is low, thereby helping her with her diabetic condition.

**We've heard a lot about her diabetes, however it is also unclear what that has to do with this case**

She was asked by her attorney to describe a "collector" in the animal world. Ms Harmon stated "...someone who loves dogs, collects too many dogs to be able to care for them." She denied she was a collector and stated "I am breeding for a goal, I do my best to place dogs in good homes."

Her lies to authorities along the route from Alaska to Montana caught up with her today. She admitted she was not truthful about the number of dogs she was hauling, neither could she produce receipts for dog food purchased after leaving Alaska. She did produce a carefully maintained log of the trip, including gas receipts.

A surprise witness for the prosecution, Kelly McKay, refuted the length of time the closed up truck sat outside the Subway restaurant in Alberta, Canada, casting doubt on their big hurry to get across the border to the US.

"Those animals were crying for help" the sobbing McKay explained. She testified that she didn't want the truck to leave town and contacted the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The RCMP officer did nothing to detain the truck, although he did locate the Harmon's in a restaurant where they were lingering while the animals "barked unbelievably" according to Ms McKay.

This testimony threw Defense attorney Albers into bursts of irate scurrying about the courtroom, objecting bitterly. He was effective in blocking the showing of the video taken when volunteers unloaded the truck of emaciated, dehydrated, feces and urine covered animals on November 1st. Instead we were shown a few minutes of the back of the truck full of equipment and heard barking, but saw no animals.

Ms Harmon testified everything went fine until they were stopped at the border. When shown photos of feces and urine filled kennels, Ms Harmon stated "I believe it's a kennel we pulled out of service." She identified WINTER and WIZARD as the 2 collies which were loose in the back of the truck when customs agents opened it at the border. HERMES was the dog that died in the wooden kennel.

In an effort to continue assigning blame for the condition of the dogs and the truck to the border authorities, Ms Harmon described her subsequent arrest and removal from her animals, being handcuffed, taken to jail, blacking out from low blood sugar and awakening in the hospital. She testified "If I was released, I would have gotten HERMES to vet care."

After lunch break, the prosecutor asked Ms Harmon about rabies vaccinations. She explained that the Alaska State troopers told her "Most of the time no one checks at the border." She admitted lying to the RCMP officer at the restaurant who had been trying to find the owners of the truck of barking dogs parked outside with the doors shut. She admitted telling this officer she only had 75 dogs. She testified the reason the doors were not open for ventilation during the 3 hours was "I was worried dogs might get out."

During the cross examination it became obvious that Ms Harmon has sprinkled collies around Alaska right before making the trip. She testified giving 15 to 1 person and 3 to another.

**The reports coming from the Palmer area about the time of this trip of a collie with a "V" tattoo hit by a car and a 2nd collie seen by motorist as confused in the road, then running away were not brought up.**

Ms Harmon explained why she had so many puppies with her. She described the problem with parvo at her kennel. "I couldn't sell them at that time." We learned she tossed food into the bottom of the cages on the truck during feeding time. Her reason for the lack of water containers in the crates was that they drank their fill in the outside pens. Water can spill in the cages and the dogs always drank out of bathtubs in her Alaska kennel.

Prosecution: "Did sleep deprivation effect your decision making?"

Ms Harmon: "No"

Prosecution: " Did you consider getting a replacement support vehicle?"

Ms Harmon: "No"

At this point, the prosecutor called Delmar Benjamin, the test pilot and mechanical engineer. By going into that truck and having it pulled by a duplicate cab down the highway at 50 MPH, Mr. Benjamin provided "empirical evidence" that proved there was very little air in the truck holding the 180 animals.

Defense attorney Albers settled in front of the witness and asked what is "empirical evidence"? Mr. Benjamin replied, "Empirical evidence means actually doing the deed rather than calculating mathematically."

 Calmly,

 Jean Levitt, President AWCA

 Lisa King, AWCA Director AWCA Rescue

 Officers and Members of AWCA

 If you would like to assist AWCA with this rescue effort, you may send a  check to:

                          Bethany Burke

                          AWCA Treasurer

                          2807 Lee Trevino Court

                          Shalimar, FL 32579

 Make the check out to AWCA and in the memo area note:  collie rescue-medical, collie rescue-stainless steel, or collie rescue-general.