A former Kent resident has been charged with first-degree animal cruelty, following the discovery of three emaciated, thirsty dogs in a Kent home she reportedly abandoned.
Kydey Hok is scheduled to be arraigned Oct. 21.
The King County Prosecutor's office claims that Hok, between Aug. 11 through Sept. 11, left three dogs without food or water in at a home she apparently abandoned on the 1700 block of 212th Street. Hok now lives in Seattle, according to records filed in King County Superior Court.
The dogs were two pitbulls and a daschund - all of whom were found to be severely undernourished. The dachshund weighed 3.12 pounds and had to be given fluids when it was evaluated in early September by a veterinarian, after animal-control officers executed a search warrant and removed the dogs from the home.
According to David Morris, a sergeant with Regional Animal Services of King County, who filed the report, the conditions in the home were extremely bad when officers responded. They were alerted to the issue after a property inspector was sent by a mortgage company to the home, to determine if it was still occupied.
"The garage floor was covered in dog feces and the strong odor of garbage, feces and filth made the police officers gag, a statement from Morris' report reads. The statement is part of the paperwork filed in court by the prosecutor's office.
"There was no water in the toilets or bath tubs," the statement went on to read. "There was no food present anywhere in the house."
Morris concluded in his report, "Hok was criminally negligent when she did not provide adequate food or water for her three dogs and as a result, the dogs suffered substantial and unjustifiable pain caused by severe starvation and dehydration."
Sunday, 14 November 2010
Former Kent resident faces animal-cruelty charge following discovery of starving dogs
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
Startling discovery in Halifax
Human remains under investigation
When Ivette Coulombe moved to Halifax from New York City nearly two years ago, she never believed one day she would discover skeletal human remains on her property. However, Friday around 9 a.m., Coulombe, near her home on Montford Street in Halifax, was taking her dog, a Weimaraner-Shar-Pei mix, out for her morning walk in her backyard when they passed under her clothesline.
“I ducked up under the clothesline and that’s when I saw the bone.”
Coulombe, who was a dance major at Lehman University in New York and studied anatomy and physiology, recognized the bone as a human thigh bone. A few steps later, she discovered a leg bone and what appeared to be a jaw with teeth attached.
“It creeped me out a little bit,” Coulombe said.
For some time, she said she could only stand and stare. “You know when you’re half-believing, half-not believing it?” Coulombe said. “That’s how it was at first.”
After a time, Coulombe realized what was happening.
“I started to think, this is a person,” she said.
Coulombe contacted her neighbor Raye Burnell, who was outside the house next door at the time, and directed her to the find. “When I saw it I thought it was a deer,” Burnell said. “I still believe it was a deer.”
Coulombe had her husband call the Halifax County Sheriff’s Office to report the find. As they waited, Coulombe and Burnell began to believe Burnell’s dog, a pit bull which had gotten loose the night before, had found the remains in nearby woods and brought them to the yard.
Coulombe was still in a bit of shock Friday afternoon. “It’s not real,” she said. “I really can’t explain it. I expected to maybe one day see a skeleton in a classroom setting, but not in the woods.”
Capt. Jay Burch, of the Halifax County Sheriff’s Office, confirmed officials were investigating skeletal human remains near Montford Street. The State Bureau of Investigation Forensic Team had also responded, but no identification of the remains has been made.