Images for this Case
CONVICTED: Was justice served?
more information on voting
When you vote, you are voting on whether or not the punishment fit the crime, NOT on the severity of the case itself. If you feel the sentence was very weak, you would vote 1 star. If you feel the sentence was very strong, you would vote 5 stars.
Please vote honestly and realistically. These ratings will be used a a tool for many future programs, including a "People’s Choice" of best and worst sentencing, DA and judge "report cards", and more. Try to resist the temptation to vote 1 star on every case, even if you feel that 100 years in prison isn’t enough.
Case #703 Rating: 3.7 out of 5
Hoarding 45 dogs
Sterling, AK (US)Incident Date: Sunday, Oct 7, 2001
County: Kenai Peninsula
Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Convicted
Case Images: 1 files available
Defendant/Suspect: Caroline Boughton
Case Updates: 3 update(s) available
Alaska State Troopers are threatening to seize at least 45 dogs owned by a Sterling woman who has been accused of animal abuse for the last year.
Troopers said they found four dead dogs, two dead cats and scores of dogs needing basic care during a tour on Monday of a wooded lot where Sterling resident Caroline Boughton keeps her animals. They set an ultimatum.
As many as 20 dogs, purebred bouvier des Flandres and Kerry blue terriers, were kenneled in double-decker plywood pens inside a ramshackle Greyhound-style bus that was so fouled by urine and feces that the ammonia-like stench nearly brought tears to the eyes of veterinarian Jerry Nybakken, who assisted troopers serving a search warrant.
Two of the terriers had been killed by a bouvier, which gnawed through the plywood roof of its crate to get at at the smaller dogs housed overhead. The body of one of the terriers was firmly wedged in a hole and its legs had been chewed from below, Nybakken said.
The rest of the dogs -- which included a mix of mutts and huskies -- were chained, cabled and roped to trees, trucks and other objects. Some were in much better shape than others.
Few of the dogs had shelter. Food and water bowls were overturned and appeared unattended, Nybakken said. Warm bedding such as straw was absent. Inside the bus, the dogs' fur was matted and covered with feces and every pen was wet with urine, he said.
"I think we have a case here of neglect, bordering on cruelty," Nybakken said on Tuesday. "My personal opinion is, Caroline should never have this many dogs," he said. "If she wants dogs, she's going to have to keep them within her economic means to support them."
Boughton said she still enjoys her dogs, has done nothing wrong and is struggling to juggle the demands of her landlords, whom she said insisted she kennel her dogs in the bus.
Her landlords, Milton and Lee Ross, say Boughton owes them $1,350 in back rent and pay for helping to feed the dogs. The Rosses live on the lot and agreed to let Boughton pay them to keep her dogs there, but now say they want her out.
Boughton, who lives nearby, said she has nowhere to go. It's hard finding a rental when you've got dozens of dogs, she said.
The Texas transplant first got into trouble last fall after a Kenai Peninsula animal cruelty organization accused her of neglect for keeping her dogs in a Sterling junkyard. She quickly hired some helpers who got straw for the dogs and began feeding them. At the time, troopers deemed her care adequate.
But after Boughton moved her animals to a 2.6-acre wooded property on Spruce Lane outside Sterling, the barking, fighting and loose dogs soon prompted angry calls from her new neighbors.
Two chapters of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Alaska chapter based in Anchorage and a newly formed Kenai Peninsula group, have been struggling to help Boughton's dogs, with different tactics.
The Alaska chapter has been working with Boughton for months, helping her reduce her kennel size a few dogs at a time, said Nancy Wall, the chapter's Peninsula volunteer.
The Kenai organization has been more direct. It was the group that first demanded action last fall, and it also called in the troopers this week.
Its founder, Michele DeMilta, accepted four or five of Boughton's sickest dogs. Those dogs were to be taken to a veterinarian for treatment and documentation, Nybakken said. DeMilta declined to comment until the situation is resolved.
Troopers said they would like to come back Friday and see that Boughton is providing adequate care for her animals. But Tressler said that if they get another complaint about her, they will seize her dogs.
Just what would happen with the dogs if they are seized isn't clear. Even the official number of dogs is vague. Troopers estimated that about 45 dogs were on the property. Boughton said she had many more than that. And Nybakken guessed the number might be closer to 100.
"What a mess, huh?," said Judy McConnell of Anchorage, the American Bouvier des Flandres Club's designated rescue person for the region. "This whole thing was been a nightmare for a year, as far as I'm concerned."
If a court were to make to final ruling, McConnell said, the nationwide club has the finances, expertise and contacts to place whatever dogs were deemed suitable.
Alaskans are accustomed to sled dog yards, and while that sort of kennel works with active teams of huskies, it isn't appropriate for bouviers, she said. The independent breed has a tough side and needs a lot of one-on-one love, she said.
McConnell and other bouvier fanciers describe Boughton as a "collector," a person with a good heart who wants to protect animals but lets them breed and gets overwhelmed when their numbers swell.
Two of Boughton's dead dogs are bouviers. One was found at the end of its cable tether wearing a spiked choke collar, but Nybakken said he was unsure what caused the death. The other was found with three of its paws tangled in nylon rope, he said.
Boughton, feeding Atta Boy to her dogs Tuesday evening, said she suspected foul play in both cases and wanted an autopsy on the dogs' frozen carcasses, still laying on the ice. "Both of those dogs were very active the day before yesterday," she said. "All of a sudden they're dead, overnight. I'd like to learn why."
Troopers said a report would be forwarded to the Kenai district attorney's office for consideration of possible charges of animal cruelty, a misdemeanor. Boughton said she has tried to give away her dogs, but had no luck.
She said she refuses to take them to the pound because some would inevitably be put down. I've got too big of a heart," Boughton said. "All I want for them is a home."
Case UpdatesBoughton received a suspended sentence of a year in jail, a $5,000 fine and was placed on five years probation in Kenai District Court.
As part of the sentence handed down by Magistrate David S. Landry, Carolyn Boughton is forbidden from owning any animals during the length of her probation other than the 13 year old miniature schnauzer she currently has, and she is not allowed to breed any animals. | | Update posted on Aug 24, 2003 - 7:08PM |
| The Boughton trial has once again been postponed. The Judge did give admonishment that Ms. Boughton needs to work with her doctors so that she can be lucid even if in some discomfort by the new trial call date of 7/25 and trial set for 8/5. | | Update posted on Apr 22, 2003 - 5:49PM |
| Boughton rescue trial has been postponed until 4/22/03 | | Update posted on Feb 5, 2003 - 9:49AM |
References
« More cases in Kenai Peninsula County, AK
|
