ER - Two mass dog graves discovered near Mad River

Two mass dog graves discovered near Mad River
by Heather Muller , 8/16/2006

A mile or so east of the Trinity County line on Highway 36 stands a sign that reads, “Welcome to beautiful downtown Mad River. Don’t blink or you’ll miss us.”

It’s a welcome that doesn’t often wear out — in large part because there’s no time.

At 45 or 50 mph, it takes only a couple of seconds to pass through the town, which is all of 200 yards long and consists of a burger stand, a small post office and a third business that serves triple duty as a convenience store, gas station and bar.

A few miles beyond town is the former home of Roberta Bugenig — known locally as Kiki — and the current epicenter of a deepening mystery that began a week ago when dozens of Bugenig’s previously prized cattle dogs were found dead and dying both in and around a garbage-strewn labyrinth of kennels that fringes much of the property.

Shannon Miranda, owner and operator of Miranda’s Animal Rescue in Fortuna, pulled 13 survivors from the carnage.

The 13 dogs looked like they hadn’t eaten in months, except for a few lucky ones that appeared to have eaten what remained of dozens of other dogs that had died in kennels with them.

But on Tuesday, Miranda was going farther up the road to a spot a local resident had told The Eureka Reporter contained a mass dog grave. She said the dead dogs had been there since April.

“But you can’t use my name,” the resident said. “I’m afraid of those people, and I’ve got to live in this town.”

Miranda eventually located the dump site and spent more than an hour picking through the remains of the 10 to 15 dogs still at the site, down a steep ravine just a few yards off Highway 36.

Additional remains were found scattered throughout the woodlands. Most of the dogs appeared to have been shot in the face.

Later it was learned that this was the second dog dump found near Mad River, the first located two-and-one-half weeks earlier off South Fork Mountain Road.

“It doesn’t get much worse than this,” Miranda said. “How could it? What’s left?”

Little but bones and fur remained of the animals, but he said the size and distinctive black-and-brown coloring of the dogs were consistent with the ones he had rescued from the kennels.

“You just can’t help wondering,” he said. “Were they dead when they were dumped here? Did they suffer?”

But these are among many questions to which no firm answer exists.



WHAT WENT WRONG?


“This is an Old West story, but this isn’t the Old West anymore,” said U.S. Forest Service Information Assistant Steve Pollard at the Mad River Ranger Station just west of the town.

But Bugenig, Pollard said, was the product of an earlier era.

Older but sturdy with blazing blue eyes, Bugenig told The Eureka Reporter earlier this year that law enforcement agents had come to her residence to force her to move off of land she considered rightfully hers.

She said she had purchased the property with money from an inheritance other members of her family didn’t think belonged to her.

The story she told was complicated, but the result was relatively straightforward.

“She was being evicted,” Pollard said simply. “She was being evicted, she had her rifle and I’m just glad she didn’t shoot anyone.”

But she did brandish the weapon at deputies from the Trinity County Sheriff’s Office long enough to get herself arrested, tried, convicted and sent to prison for up to five years.

The resident whose name is being withheld said that when the probate dispute began, Bugenig made arrangements with two Mad River residents, whom deputies have identified as John and Stacy Malcolm, to transfer ownership of the animals — which then included horses, sheep and an unknown number of dogs — for $20.

But if her time frame is correct, the dogs were dumped at the second location even before Bugenig was locked up.

Miranda said he believes both Bugenig and the Malcolms are to blame.

But after Bugenig was incarcerated — only three or four months ago, according to Miranda — the situation somehow got worse.

The dogs Miranda rescued Friday were little more than fur, skin and bones.

“Dogs don’t start looking that way because they miss a couple of meals. Even a couple weeks of meals,” he said.

Then there’s the other question everyone is asking and no one seems able to answer: How many dogs were there?

“I honestly now believe there were close to a hundred dogs,” Miranda said. “I really do.”

He explained the estimate as one of simple mathematics.

He said he found 10 carcasses in just two of the kennels, and there were around 15 kennels. He also found 13 living dogs, one of which couldn’t be saved.

Then there were the bones and fur of dozens of other dogs in the kennels, plus the two dump sites found to date.

“I’m just adding it up, and it’s adding up fast,” he said.

“The whole thing makes me sick. I can’t even talk about it.”

The Malcolms aren’t saying much either, and calls to their attorney were not returned by press time Wednesday.



“WE DIDN’T KNOW.”

Sheriff’s Deputy Christine Edwards slid down a grassy hill Tuesday toward a pile of dead dogs at the second dump site.

As the only animal control officer in Trinity County, Edwards is charged with maintaining animal law and order throughout the county — some 3,200 square miles.

She also runs the county’s animal shelter, monitors vaccinations, prepares abuse reports, euthanizes the unsavable and finds homes for the rest.

Edwards readily admits she’s got a lot on her plate. But despite the workload, she said she cares deeply about animal welfare and takes very seriously every report of abuse.

“Had we ever suspected any kind of abuse, we would have been there,” Edwards said.

But there were no reports related to the Bugenig property, she said.

“I knew she had too many dogs, but I kept after Kiki about it. I told her she had to bring the numbers down, and she told me she was.”

And after Bugenig was out of the picture, Edwards said, she followed up repeatedly with Stacy Malcolm.

“She kept saying everything was OK with the animals, and I believed her. I drove past the property from time to time and saw dogs running around. I couldn’t really see much from the road, and the gate was always locked, but the dogs seemed fine to me.

“Who could even guess something like this might be happening?” she said.

“We didn’t know. If we’d had any idea this was going on ... .” She shook her head. “Never. It just never occurred to me.”

Edwards said Stacy had told her she was finding homes for the dogs. “Good homes,” Edwards said.

“She found homes for the dogs all right,” Miranda said later. “Off the side of a cliff.”

At the dump site earlier in the day, Miranda picked through a pile of dead dogs.

“God,” he said. “Some of them were just pups.”

He walked down the hill and found yet another corpse, which he bent over to examine.

“You know, I’ve gotten a lot of calls from people who read about this story in the paper, and they say if the dogs I rescued have so many problems why don’t I just put them down.”

He stood up but kept looking at the dog. “I want you to tell them something. Write this down. You tell them I never reward a survivor with death. Never. Did you get that?”

For information about adopting a rescued dog or supporting Miranda’s Animal Rescue, phone 707-725-4449, or write to 1603 Sandy Prairie Road, Fortuna, Calif., 95540.

Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.

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