PORTLAND — Two Portland residents were charged Tuesday with a slew of criminal animal neglect charges after investigators allege they mistreated and neglected animals at their pet care facility.
Tori Head and Samantha Miller both face 157 counts of second-degree animal neglect, 13 counts of identity theft and 15 counts of second-degree forgery. The pair owns Woofin Palooza, which court documents describe as a training, boarding, rescue and daycare for pets in Northeast Portland.
The charges come several months after Multnomah County Animal Services seized nearly 120 cats and dogs from Woofin Palooza.
Investigators found unsanitary and overcrowded conditions in the facility, as well as evidence that the owners gave false documentation of animals’ vaccines, according to court documents. Many animals from the facility also got sick and died, court documents said.
A probable cause affidavit states that Multnomah County Animal Services began investigating Woofin Palooza’s Northeast 82nd Avenue facility last summer after a customer adopted a dog on June 20 and had to take the animal to a veterinaryhospital the next day because she had distemper.
The dog was euthanized a few days later, and the customer reported the disease and death to the county animal services department. The department received six other complaints about Woofin Palooza during the month of July.
An investigator wrote during an Aug. 1 boarding facility inspection that it appeared Woofin Palooza was “getting overwhelmed with all the animals in their possession.”
Then, on Aug. 11, Multnomah County Animal Services, the Portland Police Bureau and the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office executed a search warrant at Woofin Palooza, seizing 65 cats and 52 dogs.
A veterinarian who helped search the facility noted that cats were housed in cramped kennels or spaces, and dogs were in overcrowded areas without spaces to use the bathroom away from their bedding or food, according to court documents.
The veterinarian said many animal enclosures had urine and feces on the floor, and soiled kennels were stacked on top of one another, allowing urine and feces to run into other kennels.
The veterinarian also noted that young animals with immature immune systems were housed with adult animals, raising the risk of spreading infectious diseases and unwanted pregnancies, according to court documents.
Dogs and cats were “inappropriately housed in the same location leading to stress, increasing the chances of immune system suppression,” which can also lead to the spread of disease, the veterinarian said.
Investigators also allege that vaccine records Head and Miller provided for adopted animalswere fraudulent, bearing the signatures or names of various veterinarians.
Head and Miller are scheduled to appear in court July 16.
