Man charged in deaths of puppies

By The Associated Press - 08/29/2008

KALISPELL (AP) — A retired Kalispell doctor has been charged with aggravated cruelty to animals after being accused of abandoning 12 puppies at a dump site in Somers, Flathead County officials said.

John L. Heine, 74, was charged with the 12 felonies on Wednesday.

Heine, a retired obstetrician, said he breeds dogs and the abandoned puppies were an unwanted litter. He said he didn't know dumping the puppies was illegal, "otherwise I wouldn't have done it." He also said he tried to drown the puppies because he feared they would contract parvovirus after two puppies he had shipped in from Texas died from the disease.

Shelter officials said the dogs showed no sign of parvo.

The puppies, less than a day old, were found on Aug. 21 in a garbage bag at a dump site. Two — a male and a female — survived.

Jenn Makulec, who is contracted by the county to maintain the dump sites, first took the puppies to the animal shelter and is now bottle-feeding them every two hours.

"They're really strong, they're really active," Makulec said.

Makulec said the German wirehaired pointers, which she named Tucker and Rally, are the objects of much attention.

"They're like public puppies. Everybody wants to see them," she said. "If all 12 had just been left in a box next to the Dumpster, they'd all have homes by now." Kirsten Holland, director of the Flathead Valley Animal Shelter, said Heine refused the shelter's request that the puppies' mother stay at the shelter to nurse the surviving pups.