Laura48
01-31-2003, 10:54am
FRUITLAND — A team of volunteers will spend the weekend trying to save more than 500 dogs rescued Thursday from what authorities described as “deplorable” conditions at an eastern Oregon home. Barking and piercing cries rang out Friday through a makeshift three-room animal shelter in Fruitland. Many workers inside the 2nd Chance Animal Shelter wore masks to block the powerful stench of ammonia, urine and feces. Visitors were told to wash their shoes with bleach before entering their homes because of the diseases shelter workers suspect many dogs carried.
More than 50 volunteers worked Friday amid the chaos. They built crates and pens for the dogs, held the animals and bathed them. Many of the dogs suffer from disease, malnutrition and severe neglect. Veterinarians worked through Friday night to treat 89 dogs, and shelter workers estimated six dogs were euthanized Friday.
Barbara Erickson, 76, was jailed on charges of misdemeanor animal neglect Friday morning, said Malheur County Sheriff Andrew Bentz; she also had been charged in 1996 in Idaho for hoarding dogs in Washington County. Her husband, Robert Erickson, 64, was cited on animal neglect charges Thursday night.
Police removed hundreds of dogs Thursday night and Friday morning from the Erickson home at 3369 U.S. 20 in Harper, Ore., about 20 miles west of Vale. They confiscated about 30 more dogs from a van driven by Barbara Erickson when she was arrested in Ontario Friday morning.
The shelter is set up like a medical triage unit. Healthier animals are confined to one room, where trembling dogs huddled together in corners on Friday. Unsocialized dogs are kept in the few crates available. Dogs covered in mud and feces are located in another room. Another pen holds about 20 dogs that are not expected to survive.
These critical cases include some dogs missing an eye, a dog with a broken jaw and dogs without fur because of severe mange. Other dogs are blind or suffer from seizures.
A ’madhouse’
Shelter Director Sarah Sharette answered a steady stream of calls on her cell phone Friday. She tried to convey the chaotic scene as she talked to one caller.
“It´s a madhouse down here. It´s a madhouse,” Sharette said.
About 20 people worked until 4 a.m. Friday collecting dogs at the Erickson home, Bentz said. Many dogs were wild and difficult to capture, he said.
When investigators arrived at the Erickson home, they discovered 300 more dogs than they expected to see when they obtained a search warrant Thursday morning. They found 200 dogs living inside the five-room house and nearly 300 outside. Barb Hutchinson, 2nd Chance president, who helped rescue dogs from the home, said there was a pile of dead dogs on the property.
Volunteers began arriving at the shelter Thursday night as news spread.
“Grab a dog and cuddle,” Hutchinson told volunteers who asked how they could help Friday.
Pamela Schuldt of Ontario arrived at midnight Thursday. On Friday, she cradled a small black dog wrapped in a towel and said she couldn´t sleep knowing there were dogs suffering at the shelter. As she sat alone in the shelter Thursday night, she said, she held one dog in her arms and watched it die.
“That´s when I lost it,” Schuldt said.
A signup sheet was posted in the shelter Friday afternoon to organize the approximately 50 volunteers into shifts.
Stephanie Wilcox of Boise took the day off from her job at the Family Advocate Program to help at the shelter. She cradled a trembling Chihuahua that had been vomiting Friday. She said she would return today to help again.
“It´s indescribable to me,” Wilcox said. “I just want to cry, but I´m not going to. I´m going to be strong.”
One man carried a small black dog through the shelter Friday. The dog´s back legs were gnarled and withered.
“Where are the critical ones?” he asked.
As he gently lowered the dog into the pen with the other critical cases, another volunteer cooed and spoke softly to the suffering creature. “We´re so sorry, little one,” she said. “We´re so sorry.”
Veterinarians from throughout Idaho and Eastern Oregon traveled to the shelter late Friday to begin treating the animals. Dog groomers offered free help to bathe and clip the dogs. Bags of dry dog food were piled near the front door. People carried in bags filled with blankets.
The shelter was being prepared to open in the coming months, Hutchinson said.
Now, the shelter designed to hold about 60 dogs is jammed with some 500 canines.
“I know the facility looks bad, but I´ll tell you what: This is paradise compared to what they were used to living in,” Hutchinson said.
More than 50 volunteers worked Friday amid the chaos. They built crates and pens for the dogs, held the animals and bathed them. Many of the dogs suffer from disease, malnutrition and severe neglect. Veterinarians worked through Friday night to treat 89 dogs, and shelter workers estimated six dogs were euthanized Friday.
Barbara Erickson, 76, was jailed on charges of misdemeanor animal neglect Friday morning, said Malheur County Sheriff Andrew Bentz; she also had been charged in 1996 in Idaho for hoarding dogs in Washington County. Her husband, Robert Erickson, 64, was cited on animal neglect charges Thursday night.
Police removed hundreds of dogs Thursday night and Friday morning from the Erickson home at 3369 U.S. 20 in Harper, Ore., about 20 miles west of Vale. They confiscated about 30 more dogs from a van driven by Barbara Erickson when she was arrested in Ontario Friday morning.
The shelter is set up like a medical triage unit. Healthier animals are confined to one room, where trembling dogs huddled together in corners on Friday. Unsocialized dogs are kept in the few crates available. Dogs covered in mud and feces are located in another room. Another pen holds about 20 dogs that are not expected to survive.
These critical cases include some dogs missing an eye, a dog with a broken jaw and dogs without fur because of severe mange. Other dogs are blind or suffer from seizures.
A ’madhouse’
Shelter Director Sarah Sharette answered a steady stream of calls on her cell phone Friday. She tried to convey the chaotic scene as she talked to one caller.
“It´s a madhouse down here. It´s a madhouse,” Sharette said.
About 20 people worked until 4 a.m. Friday collecting dogs at the Erickson home, Bentz said. Many dogs were wild and difficult to capture, he said.
When investigators arrived at the Erickson home, they discovered 300 more dogs than they expected to see when they obtained a search warrant Thursday morning. They found 200 dogs living inside the five-room house and nearly 300 outside. Barb Hutchinson, 2nd Chance president, who helped rescue dogs from the home, said there was a pile of dead dogs on the property.
Volunteers began arriving at the shelter Thursday night as news spread.
“Grab a dog and cuddle,” Hutchinson told volunteers who asked how they could help Friday.
Pamela Schuldt of Ontario arrived at midnight Thursday. On Friday, she cradled a small black dog wrapped in a towel and said she couldn´t sleep knowing there were dogs suffering at the shelter. As she sat alone in the shelter Thursday night, she said, she held one dog in her arms and watched it die.
“That´s when I lost it,” Schuldt said.
A signup sheet was posted in the shelter Friday afternoon to organize the approximately 50 volunteers into shifts.
Stephanie Wilcox of Boise took the day off from her job at the Family Advocate Program to help at the shelter. She cradled a trembling Chihuahua that had been vomiting Friday. She said she would return today to help again.
“It´s indescribable to me,” Wilcox said. “I just want to cry, but I´m not going to. I´m going to be strong.”
One man carried a small black dog through the shelter Friday. The dog´s back legs were gnarled and withered.
“Where are the critical ones?” he asked.
As he gently lowered the dog into the pen with the other critical cases, another volunteer cooed and spoke softly to the suffering creature. “We´re so sorry, little one,” she said. “We´re so sorry.”
Veterinarians from throughout Idaho and Eastern Oregon traveled to the shelter late Friday to begin treating the animals. Dog groomers offered free help to bathe and clip the dogs. Bags of dry dog food were piled near the front door. People carried in bags filled with blankets.
The shelter was being prepared to open in the coming months, Hutchinson said.
Now, the shelter designed to hold about 60 dogs is jammed with some 500 canines.
“I know the facility looks bad, but I´ll tell you what: This is paradise compared to what they were used to living in,” Hutchinson said.