UPDATE 5/29/03 on the Montana Collies

Statement by AWCA President Jean Levitt in Anaconda, MT

*Permission to crosspost

Wednesday, Trial Day 2.   2003, continuation of yesterday’s witnesses.  Prosecutor Joe Coble called Richard Gamble, Animal Control Officer from Anchorage, Alaska.  Officer Gamble testified that on Oct. 24, 2002, his office received a call from a woman worried about 40 or so animals in a truck in a parking lot by a toy store.  At 11:28 am in pouring down rain, he arrived at the location to observe a gentleman taking dogs out of a makeshift pen and loading into the back of a truck.  All dogs were soaking wet and matted.  The gentleman was rude, uncooperative, and didn’t want to speak to the officer.  He was forced to produce his i.d. when Officer Gamble called for another officer to come back him up.  It was Jon Harman.

Officer Gamble stated he also received another call of a collie hit by a car.  Mr. Harman insisted all of his collies were accounted for, although he couldn’t account for empty kennels when the officer boarded the back of the feces-smelling truck.  He saw a “mom with nursing pups, ratty dogs with matted hair, and caked-on feces,” and “kennels caked with feces from the bottom to the roof of the truck.”  When asked how many dogs there were, Mr. Harman didn’t know.  He guessed about 100 or so.  The officer suggested the dogs be shaved to avoid health issues with so much matting and fecal material in the hair.  Mr. Harman was issued a written warning and given 24 hours to obtain proof of rabies inoculation, and to clean up the situation.

Defense Attorney Albers began talking about mushing and the Iditarod.  Prosecutor Joe Coble objected, and Judge Pete Howard asked Albers to “contain himself.”  Albers then gave a talk on mushers putting down dogs if they had too many.

Prosecutor Merle Raph called Jay Peterson of Palmer, Alaska (Mr. Peterson is senior instructor for Teamsters).  He trained truck drivers.  He testified that on Friday, Oct. 26, 2002, he saw 25-30 dogs in a low, flimsy pen set up outside a truck at the Palmer fairgrounds near where he trained truck drivers.  The dogs broke out of the pen, and escaped.  Some ran towards the railroad tracks, some headed for the highway, and some disappeared into the nearby woods.  A man with a foreign accent yelled at the dogs, and began chasing them.  He retrieved a few.  Another three or four came back and hung around the truck-driving school.  Mr. Peterson said, “We looked up, and all them dogs was coming at us!  Only one dog looked clean, the other ones...pretty sorely.”  He didn’t want to touch the dogs.  “My best thing is minding my own business.”  Mr. Peterson described seeing a man and woman pull up in a pickup truck.  He didn’t know if they were the same people sitting at the defense table, because they were too far away.  He didn’t know if their apparent search for escaped dogs was successful.  Not too long after they came back from a search without a dog, the big truck left the fairgrounds.

State called Mark Thomas, Animal Control Officer for Palmer/Watsilla, Alaska.  On Oct. 29 Mr. Thomas received a dispatch concerning a “sheltie-type dog hit by a car.”  He found the “collie” at the Watsilla Veterinary Clinic.  “There are many good samaritans in the area.”  The female collie was unconscious, bleeding from her nose, dehydrated, emaciated, matted, with urine and feces smell on her coat.  She was 3-5 years old and weighed only 32.6 lbs.  She was “malodorous.”  She was a 2 on the Purina emaciation scale of 1-9; 1 being emaciated, 9 being obese.  “She was put on fluids, bute for pain, and atropine.  Her stool sample was full of hookworm.  She was tattooed with V5011 or VS011.  She had been hit in Watsilla, near Palmer.”  Albers:  “That marking on dog doesn’t mean that dog is from Valiant kennel.”

(Folks, I interviewed Mr. Thomas later, and he showed me a photo of this girl.  She is recovering, weighs 43.5 lbs, and is in a good home.  In November, I traced that dog after reports came to AWCA of one dog hit by a car traveling with a pack of 25 or so collies running loose.  I called the vet hospital, and offered the assistance of AWCA Rescue to help with the vet bill.  I was told the bill was paid.  I learned from this wonderful gentleman today that Animal Control had paid over $200 of the bill, and a good samaritan had paid the balance of $600.)

Court adjourned at 6:30 pm.

Thursday, May 29, 2002, Trial Day 3.  State recalled Mark Thomas, Animal Control Officer.  Prosecutor Joe Coble established Palmer is 3 miles from the shelter where Officer Mark Thomas worked.  Anyone with too many animals can drop them off without charge, and homes will be found for them.  Or “we have driven as far as 190 miles to pick up unwanted dogs, which we place in foster care or adoption.  They are NOT put down and are NOT used for experiments.”  He described trying to locate the owner of the collie hit by a car with tattoo V5011 or VS011.  “We put it on our web site, and sent out faxes.  Owners never reclaimed the dog.”  Albers created another very long delay, then tried to confuse the issue of how any animal owner in need can relinquish all animals without charge to the shelter, 3 miles from Palmer, 11 miles from Watsilla, where the injured collie was picked up.

State called Dr. Cathy Wolf, DVM, from Illinois.  Dr. Wolf and her technician traveled to Shelby, MT, Nov. 20, 2002 to examine all animals at her own expense.  She did this as a volunteer AWCA member to determine which animals needed to be groomed first by our team of professional groomers, and which animals had special needs before and during the grooming process.  Dr. Wolf did so at my request.  She presented credentials to the Shelby authorities, and examined all animals with permission.  She did not treat any animals.  She sent dogs with medical concerns she found to Dr. Hardee Clark’s clinic.  She began her testimony:  “All animals received a full physical exam at the fairgrounds, the Search and Rescue building, and at Dr. Hardee Clark’s clinic.  I touched every animal but the puppies, because I had just come from the fairgrounds and I didn’t want to contaminate them.  All animals were NOT in good shape, extremely thin, extremely smelly, with coats full of feces, ear infections, skin infections, poor dental, teeth rotted.  I examined nose to tail, eyes, ears, nose, checked abdomen, anus.  Purina scale of body condition...”

At this point Albers interrupted and had a fit!  He held up proceedings for a very long time, with a conference out of the courtroom with Judge Howard and all sides.  When court resumed, the judge explained “because of a legal issue, Dr. Wolf was to be excused and her testimony was to be forgotten.”  The jury was to disregard her testimony as though she had not been there.  We later learned Albers objected that Dr. Wolf had provided Prosecutor Merle Raph with a summary of her exam notes for discovery, but not the original notes on the original pieces of paper.

The State called Dr. James Decker, DVM, the government veterinarian for the Port of Sweet Grass.  Dr. Becker testified as he had in the first trial, describing the terrible odor of the truck and animals, “top, as far as odor goes, in my years of doing this.”  He described the deceased dog in the crate and gave his conclusions:  “Weeks, if not months, of abuse on these animals.  This isn’t something that popped up overnight.”  He looked at a photo taken that night of the truck and the animals.  “Pictures just don’t tell this story,” he said.  Dr. Becker described the upper respiratory infection most of the cats had.

Albers began rattling easel paper, and dragged the now-overloaded easel across the courtroom to directly in front of the jury.  He began working on his timeline, and relating information of the trip.  Judge Howard interrupted him.  “Mr. Albers, are you testifying?”  Albers:  “No, sir.”  Judge:  “Don’t testify, just ask questions.”  Albers dragged the easel back across the courtroom to its resting place out of the way, and began showing little pictures to the doctor.  He asked Dr. Becker if “those” animals looked neglected.  Dr. Becker clarified that in “those” photos, he couldn’t see neglect.  Albers wanted photos shown to the jury, but he suddenly gave that up, and asked to suspend his cross-examination of Dr. Becker.  Instead, he asked the judge to have him recalled as a defense witness.  The prosecutor began asking questions regarding the truck sitting stationary, referring to the lack of ventilation when not moving.  Albers interrupted constantly, obliterating the prosecution with his behavior.  Albers demanded, “Your honor, we HAVE to approach the bench.”  Judge Howard responded, “NO, you don’t HAVE to.”  Albers hung on the bench for a time, then testimony was allowed to resume.  Dr. Becker spoke about the filth in the kennels, and on the truck.  “They would need a power washer to clean things off.  It was that bad.”  Albers interrupted, argued, and obliterated the remainder of Dr. Becker’s testimony.

The State called Dr. Kelly Manzer, DVM; Dr. Hardee Clark, DVM; and Detention Officer John Zell, of TCSO, who described the run-down, un-road-worthy truck.

To be continued in Friday’s update...

Calmly,

Jean Levitt, President 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.