Every day for the last nine months, Kimberly Stokes visits her dog at Visalia's Animal Care Center.
She brings him food, treats, toys and bedding. Mostly, she tries to bring him comfort.
"I want him to hear my voice," Stokes said. "I don't want him to forget me."
In January, Armani and Mademoiselle — two pit bulls — were quarantined after escaping the Visalia woman's backyard. A judge has deemed Armani "vicious." The pit bull mix has come close to being euthanized, but Stokes continues to fight for her dog's life.
On Oct. 9, Marla Tauscher, Stokes' attorney, filed a lawsuit against the city of Visalia. Tauscher is accusing the city of violating the Visalia woman's right to due process. She hopes the lawsuit will free the 2-year-old dog.
Early one morning
On Jan. 31, Stokes, a nurse at Sierra View Medical Center, woke up to a call from her mother.
Her dogs had escaped her backyard and were at her neighbor's house.
According to court documents, Stephan Stewart, the neighbor, was standing in his front yard when Stokes’ dogs attacked him and his dogs.
“Once I got closer to the garage door, I saw that no one was inside but more blood was on the floor,” said the animal control officer who testified in February. “Stephen showed me his hands where he got bit and told me he was fine.”
Stewart told the officer he had to restrain Armani while the dog was attacking his small dog.
“I’m down there beating on the dog and grabbing it,” Stewart said. “Fortunately for my dog, I think what saved him was, in the process of all this, we were underneath the back end of my car.”
Stokes ran to the house and put Stewart’s dogs in the garage and checked on her neighbor. The animal control officer took her dogs to the city’s animal shelter.
Following the attack, Stokes paid Stewart's veterinary bill of roughly $240.
A Death Sentence
On Feb. 14, Hearing Officer Thomas Hornburg allowed Mademoiselle to be returned to Stokes but said that Armani was "too vicious" to be put back in society.
Hornburg's ruling stated:
"The fact that this is the second incident between the very same parties, that no remediation had occurred after the first incident; Armani is determined to be a vicious animal."
The city's ordinance states that an animal can be euthanized if that animal has been deemed vicious.
Hornburg said his decision was influenced by a previous incident between Stewart and Stokes. During the hearing, Stewart told city staff an attack by Stokes' dogs had taken place a year prior but he hadn’t reported it at that time.
"To clarify, a report was not filed with Animal Services at the time of the attack a year earlier," said Allison Mackey, spokeswoman for the city. "Stokes promised to quit letting her dogs get out. Details surrounding the incident were disclosed during the hearing on Feb. 13 of this year."
Stokes claims the "attack" Stewart is referring to is an incident that happened when her dogs were puppies. She had taken her dogs to her front year — unleashed.
"One of the dogs, which she mistakenly recalled at the time of the hearing was Armani — but later recalled was, in fact, her other dog, Gianni — had gotten a hold of the harness of one of Stewart's dogs but let go when Stokes took the dogs back home," Tauscher stated in the lawsuit. "Armani was not involved in the prior year, nor was he identified or described by Stewart at any time. Stewart simply said there were two dogs."
Stokes said since that time, she has never allowed her dogs to be outside off-leash. Stokes has since fixed her fence and purchased kennels for the dogs.
From a different news source: ["We] spoke with one neighbor who says she's spoken to animal control several times about Kimberly's dogs. She believes they are dangerous because she saw them fight each other.
"The two males had latched down on each other and had fought," neighbor Janice Ede said. "After one of our neighbors threw over a can of pepper spray and me shooting a hose of water at them, they still didn't release."
Kimberly says this did happen, but CLAIMS it was because Mademoiselle was in heat. And after getting her fixed, she says nothing like it happened again.
The battle continues
For months, Stokes has been battling with the city's attorney to have her dog released.
She believes her dog can be rehabilitated and has found a rescue organization who is willing to help Armani.
Stokes is a breast cancer survivor. She won her battle against cancer but lost her ability to have children in the process. She has been at the birth of each of her dogs and said they are part of her family.
"I'm not able to have children," she said. "My dogs are my children."
On Oct. 10, Armani was scheduled to be euthanized, once again. Marla Tauscher filed a lawsuit against the city claiming the city of Visalia has, "deprived [Stokes] of her property without due process of law."
The lawyer went on to claim that by depriving Stokes her rights, city officials are violating the Fourth and 14th Amendments.
Tauscher is an animal rights lawyer and has defended similar cases.
MARLA TAUSCHER IS NOT AN "ANIMAL RIGHTS LAWYER". What she is is an ambulance chaser who tries to prevent vicious animals from being euthanized; an act that makes it safer for the public. SHE IS AN AMBULANCE CHASING POOR EXCUSE FOR A HUMAN BEING. Go ahead Marla. Save this Pit Bull on the condition that you move it into YOUR HOME WITH YOUR CHILDREN AND YOUR PETS.
She said many cities and counties hold administrative hearings for animals deemed vicious are unconstitutional.
"Administrative hearings have no regard for due process," she said. "I would say this process is a joke but it means death for the dog, so it's not funny."
Tauscher also believes the city has an unfair advantage as city officials hire the judge for the hearing.
"An impartial tribunal hearing officer acts as a judge," Tauscher said. "He's contracted through the city. That creates a presumed bias. How neutral is he? He's not."
She said her client was denied her constitutional right to cross-examine the witnesses. The city ordinance allows for this.
"No one would allow this to happen, but there's no money in these cases," Tauscher said. "These are not multimillion-dollar lawsuits."
City officials declined to comment on the accusations with federal litigation pending.
However, Mackey said, "The dog in question and his owner have a history of not complying with the city’s ordinance."
"Over the course of 2016, Stokes was issued five different citations for a total of eight violations for barking, animal care, public nuisance and failure to license, prior to the attack that occurred in January 2017," Mackey stated.
Stokes said she had been working with her neighbor who reported the barking and had purchased bark collars for her dogs.
When is enough, enough?
Stokes claims she has spent thousands in kennel fees alone — $5,000 as of October. But she said it's not about the money.
She just wants to see Armani freed.
Tauscher has offered to have Armani transferred to a rescue haven. She's received no response from city officials. Mackey didn't confirm whether the city had received the offer.
"He doesn't deserve to die or to be locked in a kennel," Stokes said. "I would be so happy if the city just let him live out his life at the sanctuary."
A preliminary injunction hearing will be held on Nov. 21 at the federal courthouse in Fresno. The hearing will ensure Armani won't be euthanized until another administrative hearing is held.
From a different news source:
Oh here we go. "The news only reports Pit Bull attacks! They never report all the Poodles killing people!!! Wahhhh!"
"If it was a different type of breed of a dog, a smaller dog, I don't think that this would have even gotten to this point," Stokes argued.
"She's right, the punishment does not fit the crime, so I'm taking this opportunity to now speak for the dogs," Carrie Raven with Raven's Rescue Bully Breed Sanctuary argued. "I will help them as much as I can and rehabilitate them, but now I'm going to speak for them."
Yeah Carrie. You have lost ALL credibility with me for sticking your nose into this mess.
* * * * * *
Kim set up a gofundme page which of course got all the sympathizers donating - notice they never donate when a victim of a pit bull attack needs help - but they donate like crazy any time you say one will be killed... here's HER VERSION of the events, which clearly isn't 100% true. She couldn't be bothered to keep her vicious dogs on her own property until TWICE they attacked - but now she's boo-hooing about saving its life. Even offering to move it away and dump it into your community so it can attack YOU and YOUR PETS:
My name is Kimberly Stokes and I have been desperately fighting a battle for my dog Armani’s life. Armani was originally picked up by animal control for running at large after a neighbor claimed Armani attacked him and his small dog. In subsequent hearings and testimony, the neighbor admitted that neither he nor his dog were attacked and sustained no injury (two small Band-Aids due to a scrape). The neighbor additionally stated that he did not want Armani “put down” over the incident. Yet, after this incident Visalia Animal Services and their hearing officer deemed Armani vicious and ordered he be killed.
I immediately took responsibility for him running at large and the incident and took corrective measures such as a stronger fence and a secondary, strong metal kennel on my property so this would never happen again and took my other dog to training and completed everything the City asked of me.
I had two independent, objective professionals assess Armani at the Visalia Animal Services facility and he was found not to be vicious, aggressive or dangerous, in fact quite the opposite. This new evidence was submitted to Visalia Animal Services and the City of Visalia, along with my statements regarding my willingness to do whatever was necessary, including rehoming Armani to ensure he be allowed to live. This new and further evidence was submitted to the SAME hearing officer. The new evidence and my willingness for stipulations was ignored and once again the hearing officer ordered that Armani be killed.
THIS IS CALLED NIMBY = NOT IN MY BACKYARD. Owners of vicious dogs move them away into YOUR neighborhood so they can continue attacking and killing people and pets.
I will not stop fighting for the life of my dog when he has done nothing wrong and certainly does not deserve to die. Since the incident, I have done everything right and yet they still want to kill my dog, a young, healthy, friendly dog!
Armani has been held at the Visalia Animal Services facility for over 6 months now, kenneled with no human interaction whatsoever. They have held (I believe illegally) my dog on flimsy evidence and have twice now ordered him killed.
I am doing everything I can to fight for Armani’s life but I desperately need some help. Even though I am fighting his incarceration and the findings of the hearing officer, Visalia Animal Services is charging me daily for his care even though I purchase and provide all food, toys, etc. for him. The bill is approximately $3,000 now and the City of Visalia and the Superior Court have ordered that I pay all monies or I will not be allowed to have my next court hearing on September 28, 2017 in front of a Superior Court Judge. This is so important that the matter be heard by a judge and not a biased hearing officer with no particular training or knowledge of dog behavior or animals in general.
This could happen to anyone in the City of Visalia so I hope my efforts and fight will change the future for so many animals and their families in the City.
I have hired an attorney and have been fighting with the City for the entire 6 months that Armani has been held. I have tried to finance this effort on my own but it is increasingly difficult for me and I now only have until August 31, 2017 to raise the funds necessary to allow the next hearing and hopefully bring Armani home.
Please help me in my fight for Armani and all the future pets that will suffer if this issue is not brought to the forefront, the City held accountable and change brought about.
If you would like to help Armani and so many dogs like him, please donate through my Gofundme.com thank you all for your help, your support, your prayers and good wishes. Both Armani and I need them especially at this time.
