Skamokawa couple plead innocent to charges

Skamokawa residents Paul and Daria Lacy pleaded not guilty to 11 charges of animal cruelty in the second degree and two counts of transporting or confining a domestic animal in an unsafe manner before Judge Heidi Heywood in Wahkiakum District Court on August 5.

The pair were appointed attorneys, and conditions were set for pretrial. They have to remove any remaining animals from their property by August 21. They cannot acquire any new animals or provide care for any animals that belong to anyone else.

They are next scheduled to be in District Court on August 26 at 10:30 a.m, with Judge Pro Tem Tim Hanigan presiding.

The Wahkiakum County Sheriff’s Department visited the Lacy home several times in 2019 after repeated calls from people who were concerned about the well-being of their animals.

On December 15, 2019, a search warrant was served by the sheriff’s office in conjunction with the Cowlitz County Humane Society, which seized four pigs, one sow, five piglets, 15 sheep/goats, four ducks, four ducklings, one turkey, seven dogs, and 32 bird eggs in an incubator. Two dogs were found in a room, with evidence that they had attempted to gnaw and scratch their way out. The floor was smeared with feces, and there was no food or water. In the same room, they found a cage containing a duck and ducklings, the bottom of the cage full of liquid feces, resulting in a fetid odor. The animal control officer was heard to say that day that “this was one of the worst cases she has worked on.”

On December 19, they returned to collect the remaining animals, including 10 turkeys, 11 geese, 61 ducks, 42 chickens, one pack rat, and two pigeons. Every bird had a lice infestation, according to the report from the sheriff’s office.

Paul Lacy is the engineer for the Wahkiakum County Road Department.