Chickens Killed In Raid On Family’s Coop Vandal Contributes To Rising Reports Of Cruelty To Animals

IN?AROUND: Trentwood

Someone raided Ronald Hill’s chicken coop on Tuesday night in the Spokane Valley.

Hill and his family were home at N4612 Evergreen about 10:30 p.m. when they heard a commotion outside. His son’s girlfriend looked out the window and saw someone running across the yard.

When Hill and his daughter, Sylvia Hill, went to investigate, they found a dozen chickens lying dead around the yard, their necks broken. Part of a wire fence and some bushes in back were trampled.

“They grabbed them by the neck, swung them around and broke them,” said Sylvia Hill, 20. She and her three children, aged 4, 3, and 1, were spending the night with her parents and heard the noise outside.

Four of the Rhode Island red hens lay lifeless in front of the coop. Others were closer to the house. Several were scattered around the grassy back yard.

Sylvia Hill said her 3-year-old daughter, Jessica, was scared. “The kids’ve never seen dead chickens before.”

Incidents of cruelty to animals have increased in the past year, said Marianne Sinclair, director of Spokane County Animal Control. In 1994, 79 incidents were reported, up from 59 in 1993 and 56 in 1992.

Most of the mistreated animals are abandoned, not fed or watered, Sinclair said. “The rest (of the cases) are just weird.”

In January of 1995, 25 incidents were reported, up from 21 during the same month in 1994 and 15 in 1993 and 1992. Sinclair said part of the increase could be due to more reports being referred to animal control by the sheriff’s department.

Ronald Hill and his wife are deaf and are easy targets for vandals, Sylvia Hill said. Two years ago, she said, someone killed almost all of the 100 chickens her father owned.

Sometimes people bang on the house or jump up and down on the wooden door to the outside cellar. The vibrations shake the house and have awakened her parents, she said.

Although the chickens are used mostly to supplement the family’s food supply, Ronald Hill’s grandchildren played with them and brought their friends over to see them, Sylvia Hill said.

Ronald Hill plans to put up outside lights and build a stronger fence to protect his coop.

“I just don’t know what the thrill is of killing chickens,” Sylvia Hill said.