ILLINOIS -- An American Staffordshire terrier named Chief was central to testimony on Wednesday afternoon in the opening day of a bench trial for Elisa Kirkpatrick, a one-time popular local veterinarian facing a laundry list of charges related to animals under her care.
The charges stem from a visit by authorities to her rural Creal Springs home on May 22, 2015, which began as a "wellness check" prompted by an individual attempting to serve civil papers who noticed a strong odor, and that led shortly thereafter to the seizure of dozens of domestic, farm and wild animals from her home, according to testimony.
Chief reportedly died within 24 hours of being taken by authorities from Kirkpatrick’s home. According to the testimony of several witnesses called by prosecutors, Kirkpatrick operated on Chief not long before, removing a tumor from that was described as the size of a fist.
Authorities said and state records confirm that Kirkpatrick’s veterinary license was suspended on the date she is alleged to have performed the operation on Chief, and that additionally, the conditions under which she performed the operation were unsanitary.
The indefinite suspension of her license was related to a complaint from a former client at her Kitty Klinic on Giant City Road, and Kirkpatrick’s failure to respond to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.
Numerous authorities who took the stand Wednesday described the conditions of the home when they responded as being overgrown with tall grass, the inside of the home covered in feces and urine, domestic and wild animals inside, primarily in crates and cages, but some loose, including a pig that was running free in the basement.
Firefighter Shawn Galloway with the Wiliamson County Fire Protection District, who was charged with photographing the inside of the home after a search warrant was executed -- and did so wearing precautionary HAZMAT protective gear and a breathing apparatus -- said he also observed surgical tools in the kitchen.
“It was chaos,” he said. Among the items he identified in court from photos he took was the tumor Kirkpatrick is alleged to have removed from Chief. He said it was lying on the kitchen floor, near the island kitchen counter where the operation is alleged to have taken place.
On the allegations as it relates to Chief, Kirkpatrick faces two charges, a Class 4 felony charge of aggravated cruel treatment of an animal -- alleging she operated on a companion animal in an "unsterile manner" -- and a Class A misdemeanor charge of practicing veterinary medicine without a valid license.
Kirkpatrick faces an additional 10 misdemeanor charges.
Among those, the most recent charging documents show she faces three additional Class A misdemeanor charges of practicing veterinary medicine without a license. Though, Joe Cervantez, the assistant state’s attorney handling the case, said one of those charges is expected to be dropped.
She also faces a Class B animal cruelty charge alleging she knowingly failed to provide veterinary care to Shane, a dog that “due to a serious infection, chewed its leg off, exposing its flesh and bone.”
And she faces five charges of neglecting owner’s duties alleging she failed to provide humane care and treatment to various dogs living in her home surrounded by animal carcasses and feces, without sufficient ventilation or air conditioning.
Sgt. Carl Threlkeld, from the Williamson County Sheriff's Office, testified that he was the first to respond to the scene. He said the “very strong odor” immediately raised alarm because he recognized it.
“There is a smell of death. It doesn’t matter if it’s an animal or a human. They smell the same,” he said.
Upon observation inside the home through windows, Threlkeld testified that he saw dogs and cats in kennels, as well as the pet excrement, and felt that it was necessary to call Williamson County Animal Control. Sometime after an animal control officer reported to the scene, a search warrant was executed and the animals were removed in the early morning hours of what was then Saturday, according to various testimonies.
Captain Brian Thomas testified that Kirkpatrick willingly agreed to a taped and recorded interview at the sheriff’s office that night. Thomas said Kirkpatrick told him that she had recently performed two surgeries in her home, the one on Chief and a neutering procedure on a Great Pyrenees named Max. The owners of both dogs testified on Wednesday, and both said that Kirkpatrick was their longtime veterinarian and that they were under the impression that care was being provided in a sterile clinic-like environment even if it was at her residence.
According to Thomas, Kirkpatrick described the operations as “nightmare surgeries.” When he asked why she was operating while her license was suspended, Thomas said Kirkpatrick told him she was desperate for money. When he asked if she thought it was a good idea, Thomas claimed that Kirkpatrick said no, but that it was the best she could do. Her electricity had been shut off, and she had taken in so many animals that she couldn’t afford to care for them without money, so she was trying to work enough for that, as well as save enough to address the situation with her license, Thomas said in court that Kirkpatrick told him during the May 2015 interview.
“It just became a spiraling effect,” he said. Thomas also said he asked her about the three deep freezers filled with dead animal carcasses in the basement, as well as the bags sitting on top of the freezer, as was reported to him by responding officers. “She said her intent had been to take the animals and have them cremated, but again, she didn’t have the funds to do so,” he said. Authorities said that part of the smell was related to the dead animals, in varying stages of decay, exacerbated by the fact that the freezers were off along with the electricity.
Thomas said Kirkpatrick reiterated on several occasions her desperation while stressing that she loved her animals more than anything.
Chief is reportedly the only animal taken from the home that was alleged to have died related to Kirkpatrick’s actions and/or neglect.
Dr. Allen Hodapp, a veterinarian employed by Pet Wellness Center in Marion who treated Chief, said the dog when he arrived at the clinic was lethargic, depressed, minimally responsive and vomiting when he arrived. Hodapp said he knew the prognosis was not good, and the dog was kept under hospital care, and died within hours.
Hodapp said at trial that it was his professional opinion that cause of death was peritonitis, an infection in the dog’s abdominal cavity. He testified it was his belief that the root cause of the deadly condition was the poor operating technique and unsanitary conditions related to the dog’s tumor removal surgery, which had just recently been performed by Kirkpatrick.
In cross-examination, John Clemons, Kirkpatrick’s attorney employed by the Southern Illinois Law Center, asked Hodapp if he had ordered a necropsy upon Chief's death, the animal version of an autopsy. Hodapp said he had not, as the owner declined, and he does not have the authority to do so without the owner’s consent. Clemons then asked him a string of questions about how he could be sure of Chief’s cause of death without a necropsy or other forensic examinations.
The state having laid out its case on Wednesday, the defense is expected to call its witnesses in the case on Day 2 of the trial, expected to begin at 9 a.m. on Thursday. When authorities first raided Kirkpatrick’s home, many people wrote to and called the newspaper saying that she was for years their trusted vet, and they were shocked by what is alleged to have transpired.
Cervantez, the assistant state’s attorney, said that although Kirkpatrick could face jail or prison time if she's convicted of some or all of the charges, Cervantez said he thinks that Kirkpatrick needs help, and he would be more inclined to recommend probation and counseling.
(
The Southern - July 7, 2016)
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