Marauding Dogs Kill Family’s Exotic Birds County Animal Control Officers Issue Six Criminal Citations To Neighbor Who Owns Dog That Was Taken Into Custody.

Early Friday, marauding dogs killed several thousand dollars worth of exotic birds that belonged to an Elk family.

Earlier in the month dogs killed four rheas - flightless birds raised for meat - at Renee and Boyd Barry’s ranch. The Barrys say killings have wiped out their breeding rhea stock, which is valued at $35,000.

Spokane County Animal Control took one dog into custody Friday, and issued six criminal citations to Christine Libby, the owner of that dog, director Marianne Sinclair said.

That’s in addition to several charges Libby faces from the earlier killings. The citations include complaints of keeping vicious dogs, not licensing dogs and letting dogs run loose, she said.

In the past, Libby’s estranged husband, Patrick, has faced charges of animal cruelty. District Court Judge Donna Wilson issued an arrest warrant for Patrick Libby after he failed to make a final court appearance in November.

The Barrys hope that the District Court judge who hears Christine Libby’s case will ban the family from having animals for two years.

Animal control officers held the suspect dog over the weekend to see if it defecated rhea flesh, Sinclair said.

Christine Libby doesn’t have a telephone at home and has not returned messages left for her.

“We didn’t see the dog,” Renee Barry said. “We only found its hair on the fence and in the pen.”

The three dead rheas were seven months old. Each weighed 50 to 70 pounds. Two more were critically injured and are not expected to recover. The Barrys had made arrangements to sell two of the rheas that were killed. They planned to use the money to hire an attorney and sue their neighbors, the Libbys.

The Libbys and their dogs have been monitored by animal control officials since 1991, Sinclair said. A couple of years ago officers were called when the dogs killed and ate the Libbys’ own goat. Since then the dogs are suspected of killing a breeding pair of the Barrys’ emus valued at $40,000.

The killings have practically put the Barrys out of business. The couple have built up their rhea and emu stock for years so they could make a living as breeders. Now only two birds are left, and they don’t have the money to start all over.

“This loss is unbelievable,” Barry said. “And there’s nothing we can do about it.”