Screengrab from a video of a rescued Chihuahua.

by Scott Schaefer

As we previously reported (read our coverage, including photos, here), a Burien house was raided Oct. 6, where 38 dogs were rescued, nine of which had to be euthanized. 

Turns out that the Owner/Hoarder of the dogs is actually a veteran American Kennel Club (AKC) dog show judge.

Chihuahuas, Pomeranians, and Chin dogs were found in homes in both Burien and Issaquah, all in poor health and kept in extremely dirty dog crates.

CARES Animal Control took in the surviving Burien dogs, and cleaned them up for fostering/adoption.

Pasado’s Safe Haven provided law enforcement with video footage of the dogs, showing them living in life-threatening conditions at the homes.

According to Amber Chenoweth of Safe Haven, the video shows that “some of the dogs were neurotic, spinning uncontrollably, and others were nothing but hopeless – lying in the back of small crates, lined with urine and feces. The cage doors were rusted with mats of fur stuck to the bars. The dogs seemed to be in a dark room living in absolute fear. You could see the desperateness of each tiny soul who had been in this condition for an unknown amount of time.”

Pasado’s Safe Haven is now asking for 14 counts of Animal Cruelty charges in the first degree for the Owner, who apparently has “decades of involvement with dog breeding and showing,” according to Chenoweth.

“Many of the dogs did not have food, water, sanitation or necessary medical treatment,” Chenoweth added.

The Owner and her husband, who has since passed away, have decades of involvement with dog breeding and showing for the AKC, and they’ve owned many of the top show Chihuahua in the world. Pasado’s was informed that she was few days away from sending one of her dogs off to another big show when this case came to light.

“Because breeding is a money making business, there are many breeders who do it for the money alone,” Pasado’s added. “The dogs that had been shoved away into the Burien basement had possibly at one time been Hamilton’s prize dogs. When they no longer could bring money in, they became as useless as the old, rusty crates that they were forced to live in.”

Dear Editor,

I have an injured animal on my hands. It took up residence in my yard, and is obviously suffering. He cannot eat, he has a large abscess on his face, and is missing an eye. I am going to guess he was either hit by a car, or lost miserably in a fight. He is skin and bones. I have tried contacting CARES many many times, and there is never an answer, nor do I ever get a call back. So, I called Seattle animal shelter. They said they’d take him, but once I got there, refused to do so. They referred me back to CARES. Still no answer from them. So, I just take the poor cat to them. I am told they are not in, and will not be in until after 4pm….yet their office hours clearly state 10am-6pm. I have tried every veterinary hospital in Burien and get told the same thing. CARES will not allow them to take him. CARES is not contracted with any veterinary hospital in Burien. Someone want to tell me why and who they are contracted with? This is complete BS. What is the point in having an animal control service, if they are impossible to work with? At least when Dr. Kasper had it, animals were taken care of promptly and properly. There was no run around and confusion. She kept it an open book. Why is CARES so secretive about their operation? Why do they rent from a small little hole in the wall doggie daycare, rather than have their own space?? (No offense to the doggie daycare) Why are they not in during their posted hours? Why do they not answer their phones, or call people back??

CARES is a f*&%ing joke. We need to either go back to King County animal control, or find a new group to take over, who will actually help animals and people in need. This is not my 1st experience with them, and just like every other time, the animals have to suffer.

- Abigail Kerns

[Have something you'd like to share with our Readers? Please send us your Letter to the Editor via email. Include your full name, and, pending our review, we'll most likely publish it.]

The third annual Animal Aid & Rescue Foundation ‘Whine & Cheese’ fundraiser event will be held from 6 p.m. – 9 p.m. this Friday, Sept. 23rd at Vino Bello, located at 636 SW 152nd in Burien.

Tickets are $25 each, and include two drinks and a raffle ticket.

There will be libations, a live auction, raffle and much more.

This is a benefit for the non-profit Animal Air & Rescue Foundation, which is dedicated to supporting and promiting the preservation and well-being of all animals; both domestic and wildlife.

Ospreys are also sometimes known as ‘Seahawks‘ due to their ability to hunt fish so well, so this is an appropriate new neighbor to have.

Scott Schaefer managed to take some pics of the large bird, which at one point left its nest and was quickly pursued by crows in a mini-dogfight over the freeway:

According to National Geographic:

Ospreys are superb fishers and indeed eat little else—fish make up some 99 percent of their diet. Because of this appetite, these birds can be found near ponds, rivers, lakes, and coastal waterways around the world. Ospreys hunt by diving to the water’s surface from some 30 to 100 feet (9 to 30 meters) up. They have gripping pads on their feet to help them pluck fish from the water with their curved claws and carry them for great distances. In flight, ospreys will orient the fish headfirst to ease wind resistance.

We found it somewhat odd that a creature that makes fish 99% of its diet would be nesting this close to a freeway, but according to Doug Osterman, Green/Duwamish Watershed Coordinator for King County:

“The cell phone tower might incorporate features that are attractive to the ospreys, including that it’s higher than surrounding trees. Doubtful danger to the bird, but to the technology—unsure (sometimes utilities provide nesting opportunities with their tall poles—sometimes required by permitting agencies). Ospreys have pretty big home ranges so it’s not inconceivable that they are fishing from Puget Sound, but the more likely fish sources are the open water wetlands in the vicinity of SR-509 such as the big upper Walker Creek wetland and the wetlands north of the airport in the Miller Creek basin.”

Sources tell us a 40-ft long gray whale was spotted feeding about 10am this morning approx 100 ft from the beach at Seahurst Park in #Burien

We were able to reach Miriam Castro at the Environmental Science Center, and she shared with us the following photo that she took of the whale, which, while isn’t “great,” still shows its size:

Here’s a closeup of the same pic, which Miriam says “looks kind of like the Loch Ness Monster!”:

According to the Orca Network’s tutorial on gray whales:

In late winter or early spring gray whales begin to arrive along Pacfic Northwest coastal waters from winter migrations. In various fertile mudflats from Oregon to the Bering Sea they find invertebrates burrowing in the mud. By digging up the mudflats for shrimp and worms and leaving pits that attract all sorts of detritus and prey items, gray whales increase the productivity of the mudflats for sea ducks such as scoters, and for themselves a year later.

The Gray whale gets its name from its mottled gray skin, which is covered with barnacles and whale lice. Many biologists believe Gray whales may have been among the first of the great whales to have evolved into their present form.

They are 15′ – 16′ at birth, live to be 50 years or more, and grow to a length of 40′ – 45′ and a weight of approx. 30 tons, reaching sexual maturity at five to eleven years of age.

The Gray whale has two blowholes, and its spout resembles a heart shape.

Our friends at the Highline Historical Society (we’re members – join here) remind us that one way to commemorate Valentine’s Day is to celebrate the 50-year anniversary of the unearthing of the remains of a giant Ice Age sloth from the north end of Sea-Tac Airport.

According to the HHS:

“…on February 13, 1961, workmen discovered the bones of an Ice Age sloth near the north end of Sea-Tac International Airport. The sloth was about 12 feet long. The animal was a relative of the present South American tree sloth. Radiocarbon dating of the peat in which the skeleton was found established the sloth to be about 12,500 years old.”

Currently, the remains of the now-extinct sloth, which is “about the size of a Mini Cooper,” are on display as a re-created, complete skeleton at the Burke Museum at the University of Washington.

“We’re planning to install a replica of his 17-foot long skeleton outside our new museum,” said Executive Directory Cyndi Upthegrove.

The 12,600-year old Giant Sloth was unearthed from a bog like this near the north end of Sea-Tac Airport.

Here’s more from the society’s newsletter:

Gordon Simmons found the first bone inside a steel caisson the Sellen Construction Co. was driving into the ground to provide an anchor for a tower on the airport’s runway-approach lighting system. Almost 2/3 of the skeleton was recovered, including some limbs from the right side, the left side, the majority of tail ribs and associated vertebrae. Lacking, and presumed either not present at burial or lost in excavation, was the head, most of the neck, and some limb bones. The missing bones and present skull were cast from another Megalonyx jeffersonii specimen. The original bones, as found, were preserved perfectly. The complete skeleton of this sloth is mounted in the University of Washington’s Burke Museum.

Ten to twelve thousand years ago, as a huge continental glacier retreated from the Puget Lowland, its melt waters carved out the depression in which first a lake and later a peat bog formed. This was the domain of the extinct ground sloth Megalonyx, a lumbering beast about the size of an ox. Its weight awkwardly rested on the outer margins of its huge hind feet, and on the knuckles of its smaller and more agile forefeet (equipped with powerful claws, from which the name “big claw” or “Megalonyx” comes). The animal was further supported by a massive tail when rearing up on its hind legs in search of low-hanging branches on which to browse. What caused its death we may never know, but the body of Megalonyx jeffersonii finally settled on the bottom of the bog to be covered, eventually, by thirteen feet of peat.

Some of the contemporaries of Megalonyx were the wooly mammoth, mastodon, long-horned bison, musk ox, horse, camel, caribou, elk, moose, various ground sloths, lynx, wolf, great short-faced bear, grizzly bear and sabre-tooth cat. The sabre-tooth cat probably was responsible for the death of many a ground sloth. It is believed that some of those species absent today were hunted to extinction by early man.

Of historic interest is the fact that Megalonyx was one of the first fossil mammals described in North America; the author was none other than Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson was interested in the natural history of Virginia, and in 1797 presented a paper to the American Philosophical Society on the discovery of the first specimen of Megalonyx found the previous year during saltpeter mining in a cave in what is now West Virginia. In the early 1800’s the specific name of jeffersonii was proposed by a French paleontologist to honor Jefferson’s contribution, and we now know the late Pleistocene species as Megalonyx jeffersonii. Since that time, fossils of this genus have been found throughout North America, from Florida to Washington and from Southern Mexico to Alaska.

RECOMMENDED READING:

• GUTHRIE, RUSSELL D., “Recreating a Vanished World,” in National Geographic, Volume 141, Number 3, March 1972.
• KURTEN, BJORN, The Ice Age, Putnam, New York, 1972.
• MARTIN, PAUL S., “Sloth Droppings,” Natural History, Vol. 84, No. 7, August-September 1975.
• ROMER, ALFRED S., Vertebrate Paleontology, Chapter 24: “Edentates,” University of Chicago, Revised Edition, 1962.
• STOCK, CHESTER, Rancho La Brea, A Record of Pleistocene Life in California, Los Angeles County Museum, Science Series Number 20, Paleontology Number 11, 1965.

To learn more local history, be sure to check out the society’s Photo Exhibit currently on display at the Burien Community Center – read our previous coverage here.

(Photos courtesy the Highline Historical Society)

The B-Town Blog has learned that Dr. Leslie Kasper will close her Companion Animal Medical Center in Normandy Park on Friday, Oct. 15th.

Kasper took over operation of Burien’s new Animal Care and Control program on July 1st.

The clinic will close because of financial difficulties brought on by the recession, Kasper said.

Both Burien staff and Kasper said she will continue managing the city’s animal control program.

Details to come later today, so be sure to check back.

Dr. Leslie Kasper, Burien Animal Care & Control Manager, with friend, at Companion Animal Medical Center. The center will close Oct. 15th.

Julie says:

Taken yesterday afternoon, here’s a photo of the baby seal which was placed on the private beaches north end of Three Tree Point, while its mother hunted. Several neighbors protected it, until its mother came back for it.

We shooed away several folks wandering down the beach with dogs etc. who thought it was injured. One well-meaning but misinformed visitor tried to pick it up and then thought about calling 911, saying “it’s hurt how can you just leave it there?”

Finally I was able to convince her that it really was okay.

If the mothers feel their pups are threatened by someone, they have been known to get aggressive and/or not come back for the pups. I’ve stopped kids from poking them with sticks before.

My first good photo of these pups, which are a regular occurrence.

– Julie Dow

According to the Washington State Department of Ecology:

• Pupping season occurs during the summer and early fall, a peak time for boating and beach walking. Harbor seals are easily frightened of humans during this time. Please stay clear of seal haul outs and leave marine mammals in peace to raise their young.
• If you see a harbor seal pup alone on the beach, do not disturb them. ­ It’s the law. Human encroachment can stress the pup and scare the mother and other adult seals away.
• For your safety and the health of the pup, leave the pup alone. Do not touch! Do not wrap a pup in blankets (seals are protected by blubber and blankets will cause it to overheat.) Do not try to feed a pup. (Incorrect feeding can cause a pup to die.) Do not try to force a pup into the water. Keep pets and children away from a pup.
• Today, seals are protected from killing by the Federal Marine Mammal Protection Act. It is against the law to hunt, capture, kill, harass or otherwise disturb seals or any other marine mammal.

For more info on how to treat seal pups you find on the beach, click here.

After nearly one year apart, on Friday (Aug. 6), a male Chihuahua dog named “Cisco” was reunited with his owner by

Cisco was reunited with his owner, Eddie Jackson, a long-haul truck driver from South Carolina, after being apart for nearly a year. BACC reports that Jackson was staying in a hotel in Tacoma when Cisco disappeared back in Sept., 2009. Fearing he had been stolen, Jackson contacted authorities, but at the time no leads were ever found.

Fast-forward to July 2010: A small brown and white spotted Chihuahua was reported to Burien Animal Care and Control as a stray found in someone’s back yard. The dog, named “Buster Brown” by shelter staff, was held for the routine three-day stray hold, then neutered and prepared for adoption. BACC lists all of their adoptable animals on PetFinder.com.

Back in South Carolina, the Jacksons were monitoring the website, still holding out hope for their Cisco to show up. When they saw Buster’s posting, they immediately called BACC knowing he was found.

After a week-long haul across country, the Jacksons were able to hold Cisco in their arms again Friday (Aug. 6).

Burien’s new Animal Care and Control program operates out of a state-of-the-art shelter at 19655 1st Ave. South.

They’ve also got a website with dogs and cats put up for adoption – check it out here.

"Cisco" the Chihuahua as happily reunited with his famly by Burien's new Animal Care and Control program after nearly a year apart.

According to the King County Sheriff’s Department, a 10-week old puppy was stolen in a burglary of a Burien pet store early Thursday morning (July 29).

The break-in occurred just after 4am at A Place for Pets, located at 431 SW 152 Street in downtown Burien.

The stolen puppy is a female Scottish Terrier, which was removed from her kennel by the suspect.

Nothing else was missing from the store.

Deputies on routine patrol heard the store’s burglar alarm go off around 4:12am, then tracked it to the locationg and found the rear door in the alley open. Further investigation revealed the burglar probably got into the store by removing an air conditioner unit from a rear window.

The owner of the pet store was called and confirmed that the puppy, valued at $745, was indeed missing.

If anyone sees the missing puppy or knows who took her, they are asked to call the King County Sheriff’s Office at (206) 296-3311 (24 hours) or 9-1-1.

Here’s a photo of the missing pup:

Have you seen this puppy? If so, please call the King County Sheriff's Office at (206) 296-3311 (24 hours) or 9-1-1.

RELATED STORIES:

• Burien Police Investigating Spree Of 13 “Smash-and-Grab” Business Burglaries