WASHINGTON -- A Port Angeles man was found guilty of animal cruelty and sentenced last week after two severely malnourished pit bulls were removed from his property in January.
Joshua Almaden, 26, was found guilty of two counts of animal cruelty in the second degree Thursday after a jury trial.
On Friday, Clallam County District Court I Judge Rick Porter sentenced Almaden to 10 days in jail, a $250 fine and a $1,000 civil penalty to the county for future prosecution of animal cruelty cases and the care of forfeited animals pending trial.
Porter also ordered Almaden's two seized pit bulls, Petey and Stitch, forfeited and said Almaden cannot own pets for two years.
Meanwhile, the two dogs have flourished at the Olympic Peninsula Humane Society shelter in Port Angeles, where they were treated and have been kept as evidence until the sentencing.
“They are doing great,” Mary Beth Wegener, Humane Society executive director, said Friday.
“Our vet said they might be getting a little chubby.”
The dogs were removed from a filthy pen at 4316 S. Doss Road, south of Port Angeles, after an investigation by Sheriff's Deputy Tracey Kellas, animal control officer.
She had received a report of two dogs so underweight their ribs were visible.
“In over 30 years of veterinarian practice, I have rarely seen dogs so thin,” Dwight Waknitz, Olympic Veterinary Clinic veterinarian, said in a Jan. 26 letter filed in District Court after he examined the dogs Jan. 16.
“My opinion is that they have been deprived of food for at least several weeks and more likely several months,” he said.
At the time, the owner could not be contacted, said Brian King, chief criminal deputy with the Clallam County Sheriff's Office. A search warrant was secured and the two dogs taken into custody.
After evaluations by two veterinarians, blood work and an interview with Almaden, charges of animal cruelty were filed against him in February.
Contributions to the Humane Society's Animal Welfare Fund at Kitsap Bank helped in their care, Wegener said.
“People have been really generous,” she said. “They always respond when it is an animal in crisis.”
The dogs, originally dubbed Uno and Dos because their caretakers did not know their names, will be released to the Humane Society now that the trial and sentencing are over, Wegener said.
She said Humane Society personnel plan to transfer them to a rescue outside of Clallam County for adoption.
“They are night and day from when they came in,” Wegener said.
“They are healthy, happy dogs.”
(Peninsula Daily - Apr 25, 2015)
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