Alishia Hornburg, the animal code enforcement officer for Lewis County, looks at a healthy horse at a farm in Winlock on Wednesday morning. Hornburg visited the farm, which was not in an open investigation, in order to show the characteristics of a well-fed, older horse.
As winter transitions into spring, Lewis County Humane Officer Alishia Hornburg also sees a shift in her ever-busy workload.
“I’m almost on the cusp of the end of my livestock crisis,” she said. “It’s actually fairly seasonal; as the sun comes out, so do the dog bites.”
Hornburg, the county’s humane officer since 2009, sees an influx of complaints of undernourished livestock in February and March. Because grass grows poorly in the winter, the animals at that point have been struggling to forage for months.
“They’re relying on anything they can find, plus any supplemental feed,” said Bill Teitzel, supervisor of the environmental services division of Lewis County Public Health.
“They’re basically burning off their body fat.”
“Then they start to burn off muscle,” Hornburg said.
In response to high demand and a growing caseload, Lewis County recently upgraded its humane officer position.
In addition to complaints about neglect or animal cruelty, Hornburg monitors the compliance of owners of dangerous or potentially dangerous animals, and would also be responsible for inspections of dog kennels if the Lewis County Board of Commissioners passes an ordinance regulating the businesses.
Hornburg said she has a backlog of about 30 animal neglect cases.
“Not only were we getting a backlog of cases … we’re finding we were slowly getting more behind,” Teitzel said. “ … I don’t necessarily think it’s increasing, I would say we see more than what we’d like.”
Hornburg, who works with Lewis County Public Health and has a limited commission through the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, was previously working about 20 hours a week. However, that meant she often only had time to handle high-priority cases, Teitzel said.
“I’ve always thought this was a 40-hour position,” he said.
Hornburg is not a veterinarian, but works closely with vets and said she has a lot of experience, particularly with large animals.
Hornburg said she enjoys being able to work with animal owners to come into compliance with county code.
“I focus on education a lot,” she said. “I really like to take a softer approach. I kind of assume they don’t know what they’re doing and work with that.”
Often education works. Sometimes it doesn’t.
“If they’re extremely bad, we don’t go that route,” Teitzel said.
Earlier this month, Lewis County seized nine horses from an Onalaska farm and charged their owner, Jennifer Jenkins, with nine counts of animal cruelty — a gross misdemeanor.
“That’s the end of the line,” Teitzel said, about seizing animals.
All of the horses from the Onalaska farm are in foster homes pending the resolution of Jenkins’ case.
Often the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office responds first to complaints of animal cruelty or neglect. Deputies then assess the situation to see if it rises to the level of neglect as defined by Lewis County code. If it does, deputies can forward the report to Hornburg.
The county often receives complaints about an animal’s care that doesn’t meet the standard for neglect or abuse, said Chief Deputy Stacy Brown, of the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
“Most of us love animals,” she said. “They have rights, but they still are not entitled to luxury housing.”
Common animal neglect or abuse claims are skinny horses, animals without obvious sources of food or water, dogs tied up or barking excessively, large-scale dog breeders or sick puppies recently purchased from a breeder, Hornburg said.
“We have approximately 30 large-scale dog breeders in our county,” she said. Large-scale breeders are defined as breeders with 10 or more dogs capable of breeding.
The Lewis County Board of Commissioners will hear public comment May 2 on a proposed ordinance to more strictly regulate such operations.
While the county already has an ordinance defining kennels and outlining their basic requirements, the new proposed ordinance would allow the county to inspect kennels to ensure healthy operating conditions.
In addition to neglect and cruelty cases, Hornburg monitors animals classified as dangerous or potentially dangerous — most often dogs.
After a dog is declared dangerous by the county, often because it attacked a person or another pet or livestock animal, it is required by county code to be microchipped, muzzled and leashed in public and remain in a six-sided enclosure, which in some cases can be a house. Hornburg has to physically see the dog to re-register it with the county once a year.
“Other counties do not allow them at all,” Teitzel said.
All dogs are required to stay on their owner’s property if off a leash in Lewis County.
“We understand that we live in a rural county … but you still have to be respectful of your neighbors,” Brown said.
Some complaints, such as a dog killing a neighbor’s chickens, are a result of a “collision of cultures,” Teitzel said, between urban and rural areas. While a city dog might not go after a farm animal in a normal situation, packs of dogs tend to act on instinct.
“Sometimes Fluffy turns into a wild animal,” he said.
Hornburg mostly monitors dogs, but other animals can be registered as potentially dangerous. In past years, an alligator, bears and tigers, and particularly mean cats and pigs, have appeared on the list.
Often, investigations take longer than the general public realizes.
“We care about these animals too, but we have specific rules, guidelines we have to follow,” Brown said. “We’re not doing nothing — we have to follow rules and regulations.”
Humane officers and other county staff have to document their cases carefully. If they don’t, they could risk losing court cases and having an animal go back to a possibly abusive situation.
“That’s the last thing we want to do,” Teitzel said.
