Relief Arranged For Abused Dogs Seven Rottweilers Coming To Spokanimal Care

More than two weeks after an Oregon woman was jailed on animal neglect charges, arrangements have been made to move some of her 55 Rottweilers to other parts of the state, officials said.

Phil Olson, executive director of the Humane Society of Cowlitz County, said seven of the dogs would be sent to Spokane in a Spokanimal Care truck today and five would be taken to shelters in the Puget Sound area Sunday.

The dogs were tended by volunteers and two Wahkiakum County Jail inmates at the Skamokawa kennels owned by Ingerid Pearson, 65, of Milwaukie, Ore., after the complex was seized Oct. 25 by sheriff’s deputies.

Offers of care have come from five local veterinary clinics and 11 shelters from as far as Kansas City, Kan. And 60 to 70 people have offered to adopt the dogs, Olson said.

One dog needs surgery for a facial infection and another has rocks in its stomach from eating food off a gravel surface, he added.

Pearson, arrested Nov. 5 on a fugitive warrant charging her with multiple counts of animal neglect and cruelty in Oregon, said Friday it was wrong to send her dogs away. She missed a deadline for a legal attempt to reclaim the dogs Monday because she was in the Cowlitz County Jail.

“All I need to do is get out. If I was out I would go to the farm and take care of the dogs,” she said.

Wahkiakum County sheriff’s deputies said they found the dogs hungry and afflicted with parasites. Pearson was away at the time and was sending food checks to a surrogate caretaker, who now faces criminal charges.

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