OREGON -- An Amity woman accused of severely and repeatedly neglecting her bulldogs was back in court Wednesday. She was ordered to return April 6 for a show-cause hearing where she will bear the burden of proving her actions don't warrant revocation of her probation.
The 78-year-old defendant, Diane Croan, pleaded guilty in December to three counts of misdemeanor animal neglect. That served to settle, at least temporarily, a case that began nearly two years earlier with county seizure of six bulldogs for placement in foster care.
Under terms of the settlement, the five surviving dogs were cleared for return to her custody. In exchange, she agreed to avoid collecting any other animals, allow dog control officers full access for welfare checks and a number of other stipulations.
However, the couple taking care of two of the dogs, both puppies when placed, refused to relinquish them without a legal fight. They hired an animal rights attorney to press their position.
And when dog control conducted its first check, less than a month after Croan regained custody of the three adult dogs, they found one dead and the other two suffering from what they considered neglect.
If she is found to have violated terms of her probation, Croan could be sent to jail and/or forced to give up the dogs on a permanent basis.
When the two surviving adult dogs were seized for a second time in January, Croan's attorney, Majie Dodge of McMinnville, told the News-Register they had not been in any danger.
However, in a report to the court, dog control officer Jodi Whiting said they were being kept at least part of the time in badly fouled crates so small they had no room to turn around. She said one of them was so ill it had difficulty walking and the second was so dehydrated it guzzled water to the point of vomiting when it was freed.
In addition, Whiting found that Croan had not stated new homes for her cats and chickens, as required under terms of her probation.
She said the property was covered with filth, debris and various objects, including a hypodermic needle. She said feed reserved for the dogs appeared to have been fouled by rats.
Whiting said the third dog had died of cancer, apparently two or three days earlier. She said its body and been stuffed into a feedsack and left beside the crates housing the other two animals.
She said Croan appeared confused at times, to the point of being unable to recall one of the dogs' names, and upset and hostile at other times.
Croan did not address the court during the proceedings.
(Yamhill Valley News Register - Feb 18, 2012)
