Veterinarian describes conditions for dogs, horses at Shepherd Road farm
ADRIAN — A veterinarian on Thursday described in court the conditions of some of the dogs seized earlier this month by law enforcement from a Shepherd Road farm.
All of the 13 dogs Dr. Cathy Anderson described in Lenawee County District Court had intestinal parasites and most had very matted fur, were rated as thin on a body condition rating system and had some degree of dental disease. A few had skin inflammation on their feet or other health problems.
She said the animals kept in buildings outside the residence throughout the property did not have adequate water because it was frozen or, for the horses, the water tanks were empty. She said there appeared to be adequate food. Whether the animals had adequate shelter depended on which group was being discussed.
Anderson is the medical director at the Jackson County Animal Shelter where those 13 dogs are being kept and was present when most of the animals were seized Jan. 3.
Those dogs are among the 213 seized from Sharon Kay Evans, 53, of Onsted by the Lenawee County Sheriff’s Office’s animal control division. Officials also seized 32 horses, one donkey, five cats and two peacocks. They are being cared for by the Lenawee Humane Society and several regional Humane Societies, animal shelters and veterinarians.
The total number of dogs being cared for has fluctuated since the seizures on Dec. 29 and Jan. 3 as some have been born and others have died, sheriff’s office Animal Control Officer David Borton said Thursday after the hearing.
Thursday’s hearing was on a civil forfeiture action filed against Evans by the Lenawee County Prosecutor’s Office in conjunction with the felony charge against Evans of abuse or neglect of 10 or more animals. It was adjourned shortly before noon due to other proceedings scheduled Thursday afternoon before District Judge Jonathan L. Poer. It was scheduled to continue today, Jan. 19.
Poer decided to hear the civil action before the preliminary examination for the criminal charge. Evans’ attorney, Rod Leon of Adrian, argued to adjourn the proceedings until his motion to suppress evidence can be held in February. He claims the seizure of some animals was illegal.
If Poer grants the forfeiture, the animals would be turned over to the agencies and veterinarians that currently possess them, Lenawee County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Scott Baker said Thursday afternoon. That would allow them to provide more advanced medical care to the animals than they can now. Those agencies also would be able to adopt them out.
Anderson was the only witness called Thursday by Baker. She described the conditions at Evans’ farm and home on Jan. 3.
In the home were a cavalier King Charles spaniel mix dog, some Doberman pinschers, some husky puppies in a bathroom, an African gray bird, and a cat, Anderson said. Anderson said she had a concern about whether the animals in the house were overcrowded because there were some dogs in the bathroom she didn’t see. She said some puppies had been taken from their mother because of disruption.
“I was concerned about what the puppies were being fed, which was goat milk and cereal instead of commercial dog milk replacer,” Anderson said. From a cursory look at them and not a full exam, she said she was concerned about their general health.
Baker then asked Anderson to describe the other buildings on the property where animals were being kept. A pole building had a large area in it housing multiple small dogs running free and multiple pens of dogs, she said. There were mastiff puppies, a pen with multiple small dogs “housed very tightly,” and a kennel with a Labrador retriever. The dogs in that area were overcrowded, she said. The temperature was around 1 degree, she said.
“It was very cold. We had been having very cold weather,” she said. “There was not evidence of water that was accessible for the dogs that I saw in that room.”
There was a smaller room with a wood-burning heater in it, she said. It had smaller wire cages, like those used for rabbits, housing smaller, nonshedding dogs, two to four to a cage.
Though there was a heater in the room, only two of the cages with four dogs had what Anderson considered accessible water. Another cage with a mother dog and puppies had water in a pan that was frozen on top but the ice had been broken to give access to the water. None of the other dogs had access to liquid water. She said she did not consider them to have adequate shelter.
A third room without a heater had multiple cages with dogs but the water for the dogs was frozen, she said. There were about 25 dogs in each of those two smaller rooms, she said.
A lean-to area of the pole building housed large-breed dogs, she said.
Anderson said she was concerned about wire cages being used because dogs kept in cages with wire bottoms are susceptible to dermatitis, or skin inflammation, on their paws.
“Overall, my concern was that the dogs were crowded,” she said. “The second thing was that there was significant matting of the hair on these dogs. Not on all of them, some of them had been shaved, but on many.”
Baker asked Anderson about the cleanliness of the pole building.
“They were trying very hard to keep the cages clean,” she said.
A barn contained about 25 large-breed dogs, such as retrievers and huskies, and had “sizeable” runs with dog houses and adequate straw. She said it looked like a more appropriate living area than the small dogs’ living area.
Anderson said her concern was that it was partially open to the elements. The shelter was not adequate for the “extreme conditions” that day.
The water out for those dogs was frozen, she said. One dog had broken through the ice in its bowl to get at water beneath it.
“Overall, I felt like the condition of those dogs, without doing a full exam, was better than the (other) dogs I was seeing,” she said. “I was more comfortable with the size of the pens they had and the attempts that were made in terms of housing.”
Another three-sided building had a large pen with a fence and a “nice” yard area. It had multiple runs with houses and straw for larger dogs and two corgis. The water there was frozen, Anderson said.
There also was a building with horses, Anderson said. Though she doesn’t treat horses as a veterinarian, she said she grew up on a farm with horses and studied equine medicine during veterinary school.
The water tanks for those horses were either frozen or empty, Anderson said.
Baker asked Anderson about her examinations on Jan. 7 of the 13 dogs the Jackson County shelter took in. He had her describe each dog’s condition.
All of them had tapeworms and some also had roundworms, which are intestinal parasites that can lead to malnutrition. One dog had heartworm. Four had other intestinal parasites that can cause diarrhea, Anderson said.
Many of the dogs had dental disease, which she said is unusual because they are younger dogs, mostly younger than 5 years old.
Some of the dogs had feces in their matted fur. She described the matting on a couple of the dogs as being so severe that it “came off in sheets” when they were shaved to remove the mats.
An older dog, a 7- to 10-year-old Akita, has an ear infection with pus visible in her ears that is likely painful for her, Anderson said. She’s being treated with ear medication and antibiotics.