The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

To The Eagle:

The following is the exact text of an anonymous letter I received April 13:

"We have watched your dog being abused for days! It is cruel to not provide him with shelter out of the wind & rain. HAVE YOU NO COMPASION (sp?) Please at least cover the kennell (sp?) so we don’t have to lose any more sleep due to your gross neglect. Also, your kennel is too small (by legal standards) for that size dog.

"If you need help finding him a proper home - give him to the Humane Society where he'll be cared for properly." (no signature)

In February, The Eagle published my rebuttal in response to an anonymous citizen's complaint that my cows were not being cared for properly. On the evening of April 12, officer Mike Balch paid an unannounced inspection visit pursuant to a telephone complaint that my dogs were neither sheltered nor cared for. He verified that the dog in the partly covered 4x12 kennel had proper accommodations, including a dog house, and that the hay-covered area was free of fecal matter. He also confirmed that the dog on the dog run had access to the barn.

While I truly appreciate the anonymous person's concern about the welfare of animals, I do wish he or she had done some fact-checking before losing sleep. In my earlier letter to The Eagle I invited any concerned animal lovers to stop by (I included my address and telephone number). I do so again.

Most of the animals on my farm, including the eight cows, were placed here by official rescue organizations after my place and current animal residents passed their inspection. I am not remunerated for their care, and I signed contracts that none of the animals will be sold. Rather, I serve as a foster home until appropriate permanent homes can be found by the rescue organizations. This means that in addition to representatives of the various official organizations, potential adopters look over the animals in my care and report on their status and the conditions under which they are housed.

Besides caring for cows, dogs, cats (dumped over the fence - see my earlier letter to the Eagle), sheep, and goats, I am raising pigs for the local food bank. In that context, I wish to thank the kind people at the Duck Inn, the Skamokawa Center, and the Chevron station for allowing me to pick up table scraps/past-the-sell-by date items. Special thanks are also due to Erik and Kim Anderson who, together with their teenagers, spend weekends cleaning, repairing, and organizing the place and interacting with the animals.

To reiterate, I invite anybody concerned about the welfare of animals in my care to visit [and to bring items of potential use (food, fencing….). I thank the anonymous sleep-losing person for his/her solicitude and advise him/her to direct his/her attention to other sites in Wahkiakum county where animals may benefit from his/her caring.

By the way, "giving" a dog to the Humane Society is a "solution" that may result in the animal's being euthanized. Some of the dogs here were pulled from this type of institution!

Ursula Petralia

Skamokawa

360-795-3025 (home)

360-751-5947 (cell)