Eastern WA town ‘heartbroken, outraged and disgusted’ by discovery at apartment

Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife officers have joined an animal abuse investigation that began when a neighbor reported a foul odor coming from an apartment in Walla Walla County.

The neighbor reported to police May 18 that she had not seen anyone at the apartment on the 200 block of North College Avenue in College Place, a few miles from Walla Walla, for almost two months.

She could hear dogs barking and knew the occupants had animals, according to College Place police.

Police who responded could see through the apartment’s windows “an extremely unsanitary living situation,” according to a police report.

Dogs were walking around the apartment and the fur and bones from dead animals, along with dried feces and garbage covering the apartment’s floor, could be seen through the windows, according to police reports.

Once inside they found two dogs frantic to escape and carcasses of birds and cats, according to police reports.

One of the bedrooms had several dead birds in cages and three that were still alive.

There was no food or water for the animals inside the apartment, according to police reports.

College Place Mayor Norma Hernandez posted on social media Friday that she was “heartbroken, outraged and disgusted by what was discovered. The suffering inflicted upon these innocent animals is beyond comprehension and has shaken our entire community.”

The animals that were alive were taken by police. Information was not immediately available on where the animals are being cared for.

The birds appeared to be exotic or tropical species, prompting a call by College Place police to Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The state wildlife officers found animal remains preserved in a freezer, some of which they suspected of being from protected species, according to police reports.

The two men who police said lived at the apartment, Benjamin William Tucker Read, 21, and Austen Dean Devaney, 19, appeared to be operating a taxidermy business, according to police reports.

Two days after the apartment was searched, Read was arrested near the apartment, according to police reports. A day later on May 21, Devaney turned himself in at the College Place police station.

Both men were booked into the Walla Walla County Jail on suspicion of felony first-degree animal cruelty, based on the deaths of animals left with no food or water, according to the College Place Police Department.

The state fish and wildlife officials are continuing to investigate, according to College Place police.

Read was released from jail May 21 on his own recognizance and Devaney was released the next day, according to police. The mayor posted that a judge found insufficient probable cause to support Devaney’s arrest and he was not charged.

Jail records said that Read lived in Spokane rather than College Place and that Devaney lived in Walla Walla.