Animal Humane Society prepared to rescue 300 animals. When agents returned, only 64 were alive.

The Animal Humane Society was preparing for potentially its largest seizure ever earlier this month of an estimated 300 cats and dogs from a purported animal rescue north of Bemidji.

But three weeks later, when AHS went to seize the animals, only 64 were recovered alive.

A couple from Hines, Minn., is accused of burning many of the animals. Numerous bones and animal fragments were found in a wood stove and piles of ash, according to the 10 felony animal abuse charges against Debra Kay Marshall, 65, and Douglas Ray Erickson, 49. That’s along with squalid conditions, including an overwhelming smell of ammonia, sickness and animal crates full of feces.

In the aftermath of this case that sent shockwaves across the state, people are critical of officials for failing to act sooner to save the animals.

“AHS absolutely has the resources, and this is where I’m struggling,” said Kerry D’Amato, a former AHS board member and an outspoken critic of a lack of public resources and funding to protect animals.

But accompanying that outrage is compassion, too. In the past week, AHS spokesperson Brittany Baumann said the nonprofit has received more than $34,000 in donations.

Baumann said some of the animals rescued from the Hines property on Dec. 6 may be ready for adoption as early as this weekend from AHS headquarters in Golden Valley. Some of the animals need more time to recover. Some may need to be euthanized after surviving such dire conditions, she said.

The property was known to AHS and the Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office. In 2022, Baumann said AHS investigated a handful of complaints, but nothing on the scale of what they recently encountered.

Sheriff Jason Riggs said his office investigated the property eight to 10 years ago. He personally went to the property and said there were maybe 20 to 30 cats and five dogs back then. “But nobody knew that it was going to grow into what this was,” he said.

“The two deputies that were spearheading this investigation are both very devastated by the outcome of this,” Riggs said. “It’s unfortunate what had happened, but that was ultimately a decision that was made by the actions of these individuals and not by us.”

On Oct. 21, deputies investigated a complaint from a person who had seen many dogs in small cages. Deputies discovered a strong odor from the property and days’ worth of feces in the kennels. During a follow-up visit Oct. 29 to check whether sanitation issues improved, deputies uncovered the severity of the situation and got a headcount of at least 250 cats and dogs, and many others roaming around. Again, the couple was given two weeks to address concerns. On Nov. 12, AHS accompanied deputies who saw fewer animals while those still there were emaciated. Officials then began planning to seize the remaining animals.

It took weeks for AHS to prepare for a recovery of this magnitude, Baumann said.

“We had to build temporary housing. We had to borrow crates and kennels from other rescues. We had to stockpile food, medicine, litter. It really was an all-hands-on-deck from our entire organization,” she said.

AHS provided a quick rundown of the costs and preparations for the would-be historic seizure:

Riggs said the biggest reason for the delay was due to the “sheer number of animals involved.” He doubted his department could have found enough shelter for 300 animals.

But some activists said immediate solutions had been available.

D’Amato, who leads Pet Haven, Minnesota’s oldest foster rescue, said once AHS was brought in Nov. 12, “Those animals should not have been left there in the condition that they were in.”

Dr. Graham Brayshaw, director of animal services at AHS, said at a news conference that during the Nov. 12 visit, dogs were seen fighting over feces to eat.

“What were they expecting was going to happen to these animals? They were going to be dying of starvation,” D’Amato said.

She understands 300 is a lot of animals. She said officials should’ve filed for immediate emergency removal. AHS could have reached out to surrounding shelters to see who could take 20 or 50 of the animals so they could be immediately brought to safety, she said.

“That’s how the community comes together and creates action to save lives,” D’Amato said. “Those animals were left there to suffer.”

Baumann said that preparing in three weeks was actually fast for the nonprofit. She said humane investigations are complex and take time — some span months and even years. Law enforcement needs to follow legal process and give owners opportunities to improve conditions before seizing animals.

But the numbers were overwhelming, contributing to the delay in care. Baumann said 300 animals would have doubled AHS shelter population in a single day. They stopped taking in other rescues to accommodate for the Hines property and lined up additional volunteers.

The tragic outcome tracks with what the Minnesota Star Tribune found in a review earlier this year of the state’s animal rescue oversight system. Minnesota has weak animal welfare laws and a loose network of one state agency and multiple nonprofits that receive no state funding.

The Star Tribune review found that at least 100 foster-based rescues that place animals in private homes are exempt from inspections and do not have to follow rules set for shelters.

The Minnesota Board of Animal Health confirmed to the Star Tribune that there is no record of a licensed rescue connected to the couple, and that Marshall’s rescue was operating as foster-based.

“Unfortunately, animal fosters may operate out of numerous private homes and lack any state oversight. We are frequently unaware of foster sites’ existence. Most importantly, we cannot conduct inspections of foster based rescues like we can with centralized kennel facilities to ensure animal standards of care are being met,” said animal health spokesperson Michael Crusan in an email Monday.

The nightmarish rescue might shed a light on a broken system after years of outcry, D’Amato said.

“We have to have a system in place that is going to be able to triage and act quickly,” she said.

She hopes this case will be a cause for change. But accountability is another thing.

In 2019, a Dakota County woman pleaded guilty to 13 counts of animal cruelty after investigators found 64 dead cats on her property.

Caycee L. Bregel ran a rescue nonprofit. It took numerous complaints to finally remove the living animals, which were outnumbered by the dead.

Her punishment?

Three days in jail, 200 hours of community service, two years of probation, 90 days of electronic home monitoring, restitution and a psychological evaluation. And she can never own or care for animals again.

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