Yesterday, at approximately 1540, I entered the property/residence located at XXXX Highway XXX in Stevens County, Washington. I was accompanied by the owner of the property, a female patient that currently resides at a skilled nursing facility located in Spokane, Washington.
Background information: This patient came to this skilled nursing facility with leg wounds and infection. Her infected legs appeared to be a direct result of her current lifestyle. She and her older sister reside at the above listed property. They have no electricity or water available on the property. They are unable to bathe regularly and must haul in water via water jugs from the grocery store. They have “charges”, as they call them, which are their dogs.
On February 12, 2014, our patient’s sister came into the facility to visit her sister. She drove herself in a small pickup truck. She entered the building and staff began to notice a very strong and rancid odor coming from her person. She appeared tired and in pain. Her clothing was not clean and her shoes did not fit. Her legs were observed to be swollen, wounded, and infected. She and her sister were visiting in the lobby when I approached them, accompanied by a nurse. My initial intention was to offer her a shower and discuss our concern with her appearance and odor. Upon sitting by her, I was immediately affected by the incredibly strong body odor, not that of typical body odor, but more of a rotting flesh smell. She was wearing sweat pants that she had rolled up to her knees. As I looked at the condition of her legs, I immediately turned my focus to her health and need for immediate medical attention. I encouraged her to go to the hospital immediately, via ambulance, to have her legs examined. She was reluctant to go to the hospital as she had her dogs to care for. I assured her and her sister that her dogs would be checked on. She left via ambulance within 1 hour of noting the seriousness of her legs. She was later admitted as a patient.
The following day, my team and I, including our patient, went to her residence, as promised, to perform her home evaluation as part of her therapy, and to check on and feed her dogs. I purchased dog food and water for her animals as she stated they were probably hungry.
As we entered her gravel driveway, we noticed an older vehicle parked diagonally, blocking our van from going any further onto her property. We stopped and began to get the patient and her wheelchair/walker out of the van. The dirt was snowy and icy, with many puddles. There were approximately 10-15 large breed dogs barking and jumping around, appearing scared, somewhat protective, and hungry. We immediately opened the dog food and poured it on the ground to refocus the dogs’ attention to the food, rather than us. They began eating the food and fighting with each other over the food. In the background we could hear several small dogs barking that appeared to be coming from a 8X10 shed nearby.
Our patient told us that the Pomeranians and Chihuahuas were in the shed and were probably hungry and thirsty. I peered into the windows of the shed and counted approximately 12 small dogs barking, crying, and jumping. They were matted, dirty, and wet. At this point, we were still focusing on the larger dogs. Our patient began to yell at them to quiet down. She called them by names. They were not obeying any commands, only focused on eating.
Our team began to note our surroundings. There was garbage, mostly old dog food bags and empty plastic one gallon water jugs strewn about. There was dog feces in all places we glanced. To the right, there were 2 old and run down trailers that had approximately 3 dogs tied to them. The dogs were barking and appeared hungry. They had puddles to drink from, although 2 of the dogs could not reach the puddles due to the chains.
Looking further back on the property were 4 additional older vehicles parked randomly. Each vehicle was stuffed with boxes of food, garbage, and other home products such as garbage bags, books, and clothing. Near the trailers were piles of garbage, garbage cans filled with trash and old clothing. There were plastic kennels strewn throughout the property, some buried half way up with dirt. There were more dogs chained to trees further back on the property.
As I walked towards the trailers, I saw a dog that died in a puddle near his kennel. I found another deceased dog that was chained up near his kennel. There was a deceased dog laying in his kennel, and another deceased dog under the trailer. As I approached the smaller trailer, I saw another deceased dog near the trailer door. I could hear what sounded like puppies yelping and crying. I tried to find the source of the noise and was surprised by a dog that seemed to be guarding the puppies, under the trailer. He was unfriendly. As I backed away, I saw an adult deceased cat lying just under the trailer.
I untied the rope from the door to the small trailer and peered inside, only to see a horrid discovery of 5-6 deceased puppies. The smell was incredibly atrocious. There were plastic kennels turned upside down and garbage, dog feces and urine, covering the inside of this trailer. Everything in the trailer was covered in mold and mud.
I went to the larger trailer and looked inside. Its windows were all broke out and the inside was trashed with garbage and broken junk. The smell and appearance was dreadful. It was also full of broken kennels, boxes and other junk. It was moldy and muddy as well. I could not venture in as the smell became too overwhelming.
I circled back to the team, whom were trying to navigate the patient closer to the shed that housed the poms/Chihuahuas.. I asked the patient where she lived on the property. She pointed to the shed, and said, “This is where she lives.” The shed had knocked over propane tanks outside the window, with one that had a tube going into a cracked window, appearing to be a heat source. It had windows and a door. It appeared to be a yard shed that they had used as living quarters.
We helped the patient up to the door of the shed and she stated she did not want anyone to come in as “the place” was a mess. As I helped her open the door, an immediate burning stench filled my nose with the smell of animal urine and feces. The small dogs instantly poured out through the slightly opened door and ran immediately to a puddle of water and began to drink. The conditions of the small dogs, whom appeared to be mostly Pomeranians and Chihuahua’s, were compromised. Most of the dogs were so heavily matted that they could not walk straight. They were so weighted down with feces being stuck onto their coats, that they walked crooked and somewhat slowly. They began eating the food that was poured out for the larger dogs. We then opened the small dog food bag and poured out food for them. They were eating the food quickly and would sometimes fight with each other for more. The smaller dogs had difficulty eating as they could not chew their food well. They were approachable and appeared to like human attention. They smelled strongly of feces and urine.
The patient was in the shed, trying to “clean up” she stated. We kept a close eye on her, but could not enter the shed as there was no room inside. The floor of the shed was covered in wet feces and urine. There was a recliner and perhaps a futon bed inside. Everything was covered in mold and mildew. There were no bathroom facilities, bed, or kitchen set up. Uncertain as to how or where the sisters would go the bathroom, shower, or keep perishables. It was uncertain as to where they would sit or sleep, or keep warm. The propane tanks appeared empty.
We then gathered up all the small dogs to return them to the shed. The patient grabbed them by the back of the neck and tossed each into the shed. She would yell at them to stop and quiet down. They immediately began to yelp and cry, not wanting to return to the shed. The smell was so strong of ammonia from the urine that the team could only last a few seconds in the door of the shed returning the small dogs.
At this point, I called the Steven’s County Sheriff dispatch. They stated a sheriff would contact me after shift change. I did eventually speak to him and implored him to come to the property and remove the animals. I explained all that we saw, including the deceased animals and the deplorable conditions of the living animals. He stated he had been out to the property before and had spoken to the sisters. He stated that he would need to attain a court order to be able to remove the animals unless they would sign away their rights voluntarily. He did not know how long this process would take, but that he would “see what he could do”.
After approximately and hour and 15 minutes, we returned to the van to leave the property. I asked the patient, “Do you feel that your animals are safe?” She stated, “Oh yes, they are fine.” I then told her I found at least 10 dead dogs, and she stated, “Oh no, that wouldn’t be.” I confirmed it was so, and then she said, “Oh, I know what happened…we didn’t have any food or water for a few days when we were snowed in, and that’s probably how that happened…”.
