Dozens of dogs seized from Electric City home in apparent hoarding case

An Electric City woman who allegedly kept dozens of dogs in her one-bedroom basement apartment failed to comply with code enforcement citations for over a year, and now faces the criminal charge of second-degree animal cruelty, according to police reports.

One animal rescue professional described the situation as a case of “hoarding.”

Kari Doughty wasn’t at her Coulee Boulevard home when Coulee Dam Police Chief Paul Bowden and two officers arrived to execute a search warrant Oct. 4, but she got there while police and Spokanimal staff were in the process of seizing 18 adult dogs and 11 puppies from multiple recent litters, the police report says.

“She arrived on-scene and started yelling obscenities and demanding law enforcement leave her dogs where they were,” according to the report, which was filed with the Grant County Prosecutor’s Office Monday. The prosecutor had not formally charged the suspect at the time of publication.

In an interview with The Star Monday, Bowden said the charge is a gross misdemeanor and an arrestable offense, but he did not believe the Grant County Jail would have booked her.

“That’s why I didn’t push it,” he said. 

Instead, Coulee Dam Officers Matthew Ponusky and Joshua Watkins ushered Doughty away from the scene, apparently “without placing her in wrist restraints and without physical force,” the report said.

“I engaged in conversation with Doughty who told me that her dogs were not neglected and that none of the dogs she has had have died in her custody,” Watkins wrote in his report. “I explained to Doughty that she would have to fight the case in court not on-scene as I was only

executing the search warrant.”

The current health status of the dogs in the custody of Spokanimal is unknown — but on the day of the search, Spokanimal staff placed the dogs in individual crates with towels and padding, Bowden said, and transported them to the shelter in Spokane.

“Visually, they were pretty matted,” Bowden said. “Hopefully all the dogs are doing good, and can be rehomed.”

The unusually high number of dogs, which first came to the city’s attention in May 2023 based on complaints from neighbors, is well above the limit of four dogs per household allowed by city code. Coulee Dam police have issued several citations and fines over the code violation, without result. That’s when Electric City code compliance administrator Tasha Enochs began calling animal rescues throughout the state for guidance.

The dogs seized Oct. 4 through the warrant were only the most recent to be removed from the home.

On Sept. 10, Doughty willingly surrendered 15 dogs to the Animal Rescue Friends Society of Grand County (ARFS) based in Ephrata after extensive coaxing, according to Enochs. The dogs surrendered in September were between four months and two years of age. Two of the dogs were pregnant and died during the birthing process — as did most of their newborn pups.

A staff member from Okandogs — an animal rescue based in Cashmere that received some of the surrendered dogs in September — told police in an email that the “dogs were severely matted with feces, extremely filthy and required a complete shave to the skin to remove all debrie.”

“Both mama dogs died during labor. One mama … had a severe infections that we feel was passed onto the pups (3),” wrote transfer coordinator Shannon Jasman. None of them made it. “We do feel that there is an environmental reason for two mamas to die in very similar circumstances,” she continued.

“The good news is that all of the 13 remaining dogs/puppies have been spayed/neutered/vaccinated and placed in new loving homes through NOAH,” Jasman wrote. 

Bowden said the condition of the dogs surrendered in September gave him enough evidence to apply for a search warrant to seize the remaining dogs. The warrant was granted in Grant County District Court Oct. 1.

Now that police have filed charges, it is up to the county prosecutor whether to formally charge Doughty with animal cruelty, a different charge, or none at all.

Washington state law defines second-degree animal cruelty as circumstances when “the owner knowingly, recklessly, or with criminal negligence, fails to provide the animal with necessary shelter, rest, sanitation, space, or medical attention and the animal suffers unnecessary or unjustifiable physical pain as a result of the failure.”