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Case ID: 14450

Classification: Drowning, Neglect / Abandonment

Animal: dog (non pit-bull)

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Case #14450 Rating: 3.3 out of 5

10 puppies drowned, 2 abandoned, breeder charged
Somers, MT (US)

Incident Date: Thursday, Aug 21, 2008
County: Flathead

Charges: Felony CTA
Disposition: Convicted
Case Images: 1 files available

Defendant/Suspect: John Lawrence Heine

Case Updates: 3 update(s) available

A retired Kalispell doctor will be prosecuted for abandoning 12 puppies last week at the green-box site in Somers.

John L. Heine, 74, was charged Wednesday with felony aggravated cruelty to animals, according to the Flathead County Attorney's Office.

A warrant will be issued for his arrest.

Heine said Wednesday he tried to kill all the puppies because he feared they would contract parvovirus.

The puppies were found the afternoon of Aug. 21, along with common household trash, in a gray plastic garbage bag. Ten of them were dead, apparently drowned.

The two remaining puppies, one male and one female, are recovering well, said Jenn Makulec, who is caring for the infant German wirehaired pointers at her home.

"They're really strong, They're really active," Makulec said. "They miss their mama, and their mama must just be going nuts."

The puppies " named Tucker and Rally by Makulec " are the objects of much attention.

"They're like public puppies. Everybody wants to see them," Makulec said. "If all 12 had just been left in a box next to the Dumpster, they'd all have homes by now."

Makulec, who is contracted by the county to maintain green-box dump sites, was working at the Somers site about 1 p.m. on Aug. 21 when a regular salvager heard faint squeaks coming from inside one of the trash containers.

The salvager opened a garbage bag and discovered the sodden bodies of 10 puppies. They had been drowned in a bucket, according to investigative reports.

Makulec wrapped the two surviving puppies in a shirt and brought them to the Flathead County Animal Shelter on Cemetery Road before returning to take them home. The black-and-white pups were less than a day old when they were abandoned.

"I'm pleased it"s a felony," Flathead Valley Animal Shelter director Kirsten Holland said. "We"ll wait and see how things go and hope justice is served."

Holland said Heine refused the animal shelter"s request that the puppies" mother stay at the shelter to nurse the surviving puppies.

Dumping animals where they can suffer injury, hunger, exposure or become charges of the public is illegal in Montana, as is putting down animals in an inhumane way.

"I didn't know that at the time, otherwise I wouldn"t have done it," said Heine, who claimed ignorance of the law.

A retired obstetrician from Kalispell, Heine said he breeds dogs and the abandoned puppies were an unwanted litter. He has been retired from medicine for about five years, but has trained dogs for more than 40 years.

Heine said Wednesday that he killed, or attempted to kill, the puppies because of the possibility they would catch parvovirus, a viral disorder often fatal to puppies. He had imported from Texas two puppies that had the disease, contaminating his kennel. Those puppies later died.

Heine currently owns or is training 12 other dogs. He came to the shelter Aug. 22, the day after the puppies were found, to apply for a kennel license, Holland said.

If convicted, Heine faces up to two years in prison and a $2,500 fine.

Case Updates

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