LIHU‘E — Imagine Kaua‘i Humane Society leaders and enforcement officers not only having to respond to a report of a dead dog rotting in his kennel, but also having to scoop up the remains and keep them as part of
LIHU‘E — Imagine Kaua‘i Humane Society leaders and enforcement officers not only having to respond to a report of a dead dog rotting in his kennel, but also having to scoop up the remains and keep them as part of their animal-cruelty investigation.
Readers won’t be able to see the maggot-infested remains, barely recognizable as an animal at all let alone a dog, and can only imagine what the stench must have been like that filled up rooms of homes near the Po‘ipu Road residence of Blaine Jacintho.
Jacintho, 24, was cited by KHS enforcement officers last week for nine counts of animal cruelty after KHS officers, responding to an anonymous complaint about the smell, found one dead dog and eight emaciated dogs on the property where Jacintho lives.
This was the second time in the last four months Jacintho has been cited for animal cruelty, a misdemeanor.
KHS Field Services Manager Chris Vierra went to the Jacintho home in March, found another dead dog, cited Jacintho with one count of animal cruelty, and gave Jacintho information on correcting deficiencies in the way Jacintho takes care of his dogs, said Dr. Becky Rhoades, KHS executive director.
After checking up on Jacintho’s animals in April, and finding them in good health with sanitary living conditions, Vierra felt he didn’t have to continue checking up on the dogs.
Then came this month’s disturbing call about another dead animal.
Rhoades said Vierra gave Jacintho his cellular number in March and told him to call anytime if he had questions or wanted help, or wanted to have KHS take some of the dogs away so he could adequately care for the other animals.
Jacintho didn’t call once, Vierra and Rhoades said.
Jacintho, who did not return a telephone call seeking comment, has asked for a jury trial, Rhoades said during an interview Wednesday.
The dogs were seized last week, one a pit bull earlier involved in a dangerous-dog case involving an attack on a 6-year-old male visitor at Shipwreck Beach, and another adopted earlier from KHS by someone in Jacintho’s household, Rhoades said.
“It was filthy. It was disgusting,” said Rhoades, adding that KHS will use a new state law allowing them to petition in court to compel Jacintho to forfeit his animals, or to force him to post a bond for care of the animals.
The bond would be in the vicinity of $10 per day per dog, or $80 per day, not including veterinary fees, or a percentage of that, she said.
“We took them all. We had to protect them,” said Rhoades, showing nearly 100 photos that show the animals anemic, emaciated, with sores and ticks.
State law requires animal owners to provide “necessary sustenance,” including food and water, living quarters free from waste materials, and enough room to move around.
Some of the dogs had no food or water in their bowls, and kennel floors were strewn with feces and urine, she said.
According to Vierra, Jacintho told him he couldn’t afford to take the injured dog that later died to the veterinarian. “It was just saddening,” Vierra said, especially after Jacintho ignored Vierra’s offer to have KHS help take care of some of the animals.
“The smell was horrible,” Vierra said, between the dead dog, manure and sewage from the kennels. “It was a little overwhelming.”
The dead dog, a male, had apparently caught his leg in between the kennel floor and fence, and broken the leg, which apparently was eaten by the dog in the next kennel, said Rhoades, who performed an autopsy on what was left of the animal to try to determine cause of death.
There was no skull fracture, and death could have been caused by infection related to the broken leg, she said. The male dog was brown, around a year old, she said.
The eight live dogs include four pit bulls (including two, 6-month-old animals), two Airedales, one hound mix and one Labrador mix.
Rhoades said KHS can’t take any action to spay, neuter or place the animals until after resolution of the forfeiture hearing, though some of the animals likely aren’t candidates for adoption because of their aggressiveness.
No date for the forfeiture hearing had been set by press time.
The case is a bit puzzling to Rhoades, she said, because KHS offers free food, owner educational assistance, spay and neuter services, and other services, no questions asked.
Each cruelty count is a misdemeanor punishable by a $2,000 fine and/or a year in jail.
Rhoades asked why the dead dog wasn’t taken out of the kennel and buried, and she said Jacintho told Vierra that he had just started a new job and his girlfriend wasn’t able to lift the dog out of the kennel.
“I don’t get it. I’m sorry,” Rhoades said. “So why do that again?” she asked of Jacintho allowing a second dog he owns to die.
“He doesn’t deserve to own dogs. He’s shown he can’t care for them,” Rhoades said. “We’re going to try to prevent them from being given back to him,” she said of the forfeiture hearing, where KHS officials will have to show probable cause to keep the animals away from Jacintho.
KHS officials don’t issue a lot of cruelty citations, because they want people to keep their dogs, she said.
