Anderson, Anderson & Goyogana - Oregon

The Burns/Harney County Hoarding Case

From the Blog: Ridenbaugh Press / Dog Rescue by Linda Watkins

I've spent most of the last three days working on this project — ironic as I’d planned to do no more than help with a little networking and “let someone else take the dogs.” But such is the nature of rescue that instead I’ve been helping Harney County Save a Stray with networking contacts; spent most of one day drafting a press release and researching and gathering the names and contact addresses for the relevant newspapers and television stations; and even found some foster spaces for some of the dogs. What else could I do?

Melanie was single handedly trying to find placements for over 60 dogs — and the frustrating part was that most people thought everything was already taken care of so we were having a hard time finding the help. The problem stemmed from the great news coverage the Oregon Humane Society got when they pulled over 80 of the dogs when the case first broke. We’re all grateful that OHS took so many dogs, but unfortunately in the course of publicizing their work, the impression was left with the public that all of the dogs were taken care of. Instead there are scores of dogs still at the site and if we can’t get them moved soon, they will probably be shot...." More

Dec 9, 2009: Humane society rescues 100 dogs in eastern Oregon

By Lynne Terry

A suspected case of dog hoarding has turned into one of the largest cases of animal neglect in state history, the Oregon Humane Society said Tuesday.

The case involves about 100 dogs on a sprawling, desolate piece of property about 20 miles south of Burns.

David Lytle, spokesman for the Oregon Human Society, said the dogs were living without shelter in icy conditions, surrounded by cattle bones gnawed clean.

The dog owners, who live in trailers on the property, fed them carcasses from a local meat processing plant. "The whole property was scattered with the carcasses," Lytle said. "I've never seen anything like it."

A couple and another woman living on the property were arrested by Harney County Sheriff Dave Glerup on suspicion of animal neglect. Glerup said the couple -- 43-year-old Ronald Steven Anderson and Anita Darlene Anderson, 55 -- and 34-year-old Kathlean Fuchs-Goyogana, 34, agreed to give up the dogs and were released on their own recognizance.

Glerup said the couple has lived on the property on Frenchglen highway for more than a decade and are currently unemployed. The property is owned by a woman who used to live in the area but moved near Joseph after her husband died. Glerup said the Andersons sublet to Fuchs-Goyogana, who has a 9-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl.

A friend of the girl's sparked the investigation, telling her mother about conditions on the property. The mother called the Department of Human Services, which in turn called the Harney County Sheriff's Office.

Glerup said Fuchs-Goyogana agreed to take her kids off the property. She is currently under investigation for child neglect, he said.

As for the dogs, most of them are border collie, Shiba Inu and Australian shepherd mixes. Lytle did not see any obvious injuries, though he said some had nails so long they were curled over and growing into their paws. But he said the dogs did not appear to be malnourished..." More & video (graphic)