2 mares destroyed at Maple Valley rescue farm after attack by dogs

Patricia Clark was so distraught Sunday she couldn't face leaving her home: Two horses she had rescued, that were still nursing their foals, had to be put down after all four animals were viciously attacked by a pack of her neighbor's dogs.

Only the foals survived.

"They are missing their mommies very much," said a sobbing Clark, who runs an animal-rescue farm called Serenity Equine Rescue & Rehabilitation in Maple Valley where she cares for abandoned horses, goats and pigs.

The King County Sheriff's Office responded to a report of dogs attacking horses near Southeast 216th Way and 288th Avenue Southeast, near Maple Valley, shortly after 2 p.m. Saturday.

King County spokeswoman Christine Lange said the dogs' owner surrendered the animals to King County Animal Care and Control and requested they be euthanized.

The five dogs were mixed breeds: One or two were pit-bull mixes, one was a Chihuahua mix and two were mutts, she said.

Lange said the dogs were put down Sunday.

Clark cried about that, as well.

"It's not their fault. It's the owner's fault."

According to Clark, the problem began about four months ago when new people moved in next door.

They had five adult dogs, none of them spayed or neutered, a litter of puppies and a hole in their fence.

Several weeks ago, Clark said, the adult dogs chased her up her driveway.

Another time, she said, they blocked her path to her well house.

About two weeks ago, Clark caught the neighbor dogs chasing her horses in her pasture.

She'd already spoken to the man next door, she said, but she went back to him to complain again.

"I told him 'you have got to fix this fence,' " she said. "And he told me he didn't have time, he works 18 hours a day and had already spent $400 fixing the fence on the other side so his dogs wouldn't get out and fight with another neighbor's dogs."

"And I said, 'Well, if you don't have the time, you shouldn't have dogs,' " Clark said.

Clark called the Sheriff's Office, and a deputy responded. She said he told her that it was legal to shoot dogs that chase livestock.

"I said, 'I can't shoot their dogs. I can't shoot animals. I'm in rescue. It's not their fault. It's the people's fault.' "

The neighbor reportedly told the deputy he would fix the fence, but he didn't, Clark said.

The owners of the dogs could not be reached for comment.

The four horses were attacked Saturday after the mares intervened when the dogs started circling the foals, according to a volunteer with Serenity Equine Rescue & Rehabilitation.

The mares, 5-year-old Kat and 12-year-old Kiara, were so seriously injured in the dog attack that they had to be put down by a veterinarian. Kat suffered wounds to the throat and chest, while Kiara suffered injuries including a 3-inch-long gash near her muzzle, Clark said.

The foals, Cloud and Braveheart, suffered puncture wounds to their legs. They were treated and are expected to recover, Clark said.

She said one of the mares had been rescued from a slaughterhouse when eight months pregnant.

"She had her baby here, and this is what happens to her.

"It's disgusting," she said. "All of these animals have been killed because of these ignorant and careless people."

Seattle Times reporter Sanjay Bhatt contributed to this story.

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com