Dog neglect - 20 found alive, 7 dead Mojave, CA (US) Incident Date: Tuesday, Dec 21, 2004 County: Kern Local Map: available Disposition: Convicted Abuser/Suspect: Donald Wayne Bone Case Updates: 3 update(s) available

Case ID: 3475 Classification: Neglect / Abandonment Animal: dog (non pit-bull) View more cases in CA (US) Login to Watch this Case

Kern County Animal Control found 19 dogs still alive at 8200 Joshua Lane, deep in the desert east of here. Seven were dead: One carcass in the dirt, chewed through. A skull on an outdoor couch. Two mangled bodies in the owner's living quarters. Two puppies stacked in a trash heap.

And one dead dog inside the home, wrapped in a blanket, dropped in the bathtub.

At the end, Animal Control services chief Denise Haynes vowed that Donald and Linda Bone would not get their dogs back, those still alive.

She will push for criminal prosecution, she said.

County supervisor Don Maben wants more. He committed Wednesday to investigating the role county agencies, including Animal Control, played in the mistreatment and death of the dogs.

"It shouldn't have lasted as long as it lasted," Maben said.

Neighbors have been calling about the Bones for more than a year. Officers recorded at least seven complaints. Yet the Bones were cited for nothing more than license and vaccination, fees never paid, county staff said.

Friday, the Bones were evicted from the double-wide they rented in this stretch of desert east of Highway 14.

Monday, the dogs were still there. Animal Control posted a notice to the Bones. They had 48 hours to get them.

But Wednesday, the desert was quiet, the dogs still there.

The vibrating thrum of tires on the dirt road broke the calm. Four Animal Control trucks spun into the lot, one after the other. They rumbled behind the makeshift fencing that barely holds the dogs in, and, with hardly a word, officers began pulling out gear.

One officer walked straight to the fence. He yanked open the chain-link gate. The dogs started barking. He kicked in plywood patching fence holes.

The dogs charged, and the officers rushed in, leashed poles out, ready, flushing the dogs toward a garage that once had housed the Bones.

They quickly collared one, a Shar-Pei mix. It hissed, yelped and dragged its hind legs through the dirt as the officer pulled it out of the yard.

Struggle after struggle, the officers cornered them all, mostly mixes of pit bull andShar-Pei.Their ribs often showed through. Sometimes their spines.

Two hours later, they'd caught the last.

All of the dogs were to be transported to Bakersfield shelters and reviewed by a veterinarian Wednesday night, Haynes said.

The case is now a criminal investigation, she said. When all is complete, Animal Control will turn it over to the district attorney for prosecution.

The Bones could be charged with felony counts of neglect or cruelty to animals, Haynes said, on top of thousands in Animal Control fees.

"His time has run out," Haynes said. "He's gonna be billed."

Next Wednesday, she said, Animal Control could start adopting the dogs. If they are not adoptable, she said, they will be euthanized.

Rescue groups could help, too, Haynes said. They often have more space and time to rehabilitate injured and anti-social dogs.

Maben is not satisfied.

At least two dogs died since Friday, when Animal Control first came out to the house for this incident.

Haynes said her officers were just following protocol to make sure their investigation would be foolproof.

Maben said he wants to see if anything can be done better next time.

"We have a responsibility to control things and not let them go on and on," he said.

He said his investigation should be concluded by the first weeks of January, its results available to the public.

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References

	The Bakersfield Californian
	The Bakersfield Channel - Dec 21, 2004
	KESQ - April 30, 2005

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