LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — With a massive cruelty case in Nye County and a burgeoning crisis at our local shelter, animal welfare has been in the spotlight in much of our news coverage over the last few months as the two parallel stories have played out in our community.
Now, those stories are converging.
"I've worked so hard on both those cases this year," said animal advocate Gina Greisen.
Her group, Nevada Voters for Animals, brought the Nye County case to 13 Investigates in the Spring, 10 weeks after a litter of puppies was born at a dusty and desolate property in Amargosa Valley... A place where several months later, caretaker Oksana Higgins would be arrested and charged with felony animal cruelty involving nearly 300 dogs.
Greisen's group had been tracking the operation of Est Alfa kennel, owned by Higgins' ex-husband, Vasili Platunov, who is also currently facing animal cruelty charges.
Nye County authorities call Platunov an illegal breeder and hoarder of security dogs including Russian Caucasian Shepherds and Armenian Gampers.
"We got a tour from Oksana and when we were done, she did start telling us the dogs that they were willing to spay and neuter and some of the dogs they were willing to put in rescue," Greisen said, recalling her visit to Amargosa in April.
As 13 Investigates first reported, Platunov surrendered about 30 injured and severely malnourished dogs in the Spring to Desert Haven Animal Society in Pahrump.
Higgins allowed Nevada Voters for Animals to take two puppies.
"They had been starved so they had special needs and behavior issues, even at that young age," Greisen said.
She named one of the puppies Cherry Cola, who was food aggressive at just 10 weeks old.
"And as we know, there were many starved ones, there were many puppies that died, there were a lot that died of disease and parvo and things, so I can't imagine what, in her 10 weeks of life before I got her, what she had already been through."
That would be just the beginning of Cherry Cola's troubles.
"Knowing what she had already gone through, and then to know she was all by herself, scared, in the middle of the desert, and that somebody did that to her... It's devastating," said Lori Heeren, executive director of the Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA).
"And we brought in Cherry Cola, who is an Armenian Gamper, when she was just a few months old, and she unfortunately has been returned a few times. This last time was devastating for us."
The pup has been through four families in five months.
Heeren says the last one dumped her in the desert near Apex and left town.
Good Samaritans who spotted the dog in a mud puddle spent hours coaxing her to trust them so they could catch her.
When Cherry Cola was discovered in the desert, she was taken to The Animal Foundation.
When NSPCA found out where she was, they tried to reclaim her but were told they would have to wait a few days. At the time, the shelter was experiencing a disease outbreak.
Now that she's back at the NSPCA, she's being held in medical isolation.
Cherry Cola was found in the desert on Sunday, Oct. 2.
Heeren says, "We reached out to them on Monday, Oct. 3 to see if we could get Cherry Cola right away and we were told that there were a few sick dogs so, I asked again if we could please just get her back, we have an onsite veterinary team, an isolation ward, we were just really concerned because she was so fearful and had been through some trauma and we wanted to be able to help her as soon as possible and we did not hear back. I also asked about the nature of the outbreak, and we did not hear back."
No one from The Animal Foundation would go on camera but they did provide emails showing they responded to NSPCA on Oct. 4, saying in addition to sickness at the shelter, they were also working to contact the owner linked to Cherry Cola's microchip. The email does not give any details about the nature of the outbreak.
The shelter's marketing director claims they "Immediately notified anyone who had left the facility with a dog who had likely been in contact with the sick dog, and dogs at the shelter who had been exposed to the sick dog were placed in quarantine."
Greisen did a Facebook live video on Monday, Oct. 3 from outside The Animal Foundation.
"And within a very short period of time after I was kicked off the property, they posted an update," said Greisen.
In The Animal Foundation's Facebook post from the night of Oct. 3, they said they'd paused dog adoptions due to a "respiratory illness."
It wasn't until the next day that they updated the post with specifics, admitting they'd had details about the highly contagious and potentially fatal diseases the previous week.
Darcy Spears: "They didn't share any of that with you?"
Lori Heeren: "No, and I specifically asked the nature of the outbreak. We found out on social media. That's how our staff found out."
The Animal Foundation said its veterinary team had "Been making decisions based on results of diagnostic tests to avoid misinformation and confusion among the public," adding, "We were proactive in distributing this information once the results of those tests were received. Those who were directly affected were immediately notified, and our team worked toward putting an in-depth statement out to the public."
"We are one of the largest transfer partners for The Animal Foundation and nobody told us," said Heeren.
The outbreak of Canine Pneumovirus and Strep Zoo have forced The Animal Foundation to not let any dogs in or out of the municipal shelter that serves the City of Las Vegas, Clark County and the City of North Las Vegas.
"This is an unprecedented crisis," Greisen said. "We've never seen a time when they've shut the doors to Animal Control."
Clark County Animal Control is not currently responding to calls about stray dogs, instead, trying to mitigate situations in the field and only bringing injured or aggressive dogs to the shelter.
The City of Las Vegas says it's working with residents on a case-by-case basis, getting help from veterinarians in the community to care for any severely injured animals.
North Las Vegas, the smallest jurisdiction, says The Animal Foundation has cleared space to receive their confiscated, sick and injured animals.
As for Cherry Cola, she now awaits whatever comes next... A fifth placement where she'll hopefully, finally, get the training and care she needs to stay in a forever home.
On Wednesday, The Animal Foundation posted this update about the developing outbreak.
