Man gets probation in puppy drownings

A retired Kalispell doctor convicted of abandoning 12 puppies, including 10 that had been drowned, at the green-box site in Somers last summer has been given probation.

John Lawrence Heine, 75, was ordered to serve a six-month deferred sentence during a hearing Thursday afternoon in Flathead County District Court.

Heine, who breeds and trains bird dogs as a hobby, has said he tried to kill the puppies because he feared they would contract parvovirus.

While he is on probation, Heine will not be prohibited from owning dogs or maintaining a kennel.

District Court Judge Stewart E. Stadler also suspended a $1,000 fine, but recommended Heine contribute $2,500 to help the Flathead County Animal Shelter spay or neuter pets and strays.

Several colleagues and friends testified Thursday that Heine was an exemplary member of the community and loved raising dogs.

"It's really a passion of his … I've never seen a dog shy away from him," said Heine's neighbor and friend Bub Lodinoff. "I've never, ever seen him strike a dog, hit a dog."

Another friend, Stephen Van Helden, told the court that Heine was a compassionate and generous person.

"He has this ability to know how a dog thinks, and dogs just love him," Van Helden said.

Heine pleaded no contest in May to one count of felony aggravated cruelty to animals. In exchange, prosecutors dropped two counts of misdemeanor cruelty to animals.

"I think I know you regret what happened that day," said Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan, who told the court he pursued the case against Heine not because of public pressure but because the law was violated.

According to court records, the 10 dead and two living puppies were found the afternoon of Aug. 21, 2008, at the green-box site on Montana 82. A regular salvager discovered them along with common household trash in a gray plastic trash bag.

The puppies had been drowned in a five-gallon bucket, according to court papers filed by Heine's attorney.

Investigators were able to identify Heine as a suspect through mail in the garbage bag.

The two surviving puppies, male and female German wirehaired pointers, were taken to the Flathead County Animal Shelter where they were put up for adoption and are now 'very healthy," Flathead County Animal Shelter director Kirsten Holland said.

Holland testified Thursday she hoped Heine had learned that people and organizations are out there to help animal owners deal with unwanted pets in a humane manner.

"Having those puppies come to the shelter in the state they did made me want to work harder," she said.

Dumping animals where they can suffer injury, hunger, exposure or become charges of the public is illegal in Montana, as is putting down animals in an inhumane way.

Heine, however, grew up on an Iowa farm where veterinary work was done by family members and euthanasia by drowning was an accepted practice.

According to court papers, Heine kept the 12 puppies underwater for more than 20 minutes and twice checked to make sure they were dead before dumping them.

"The … evidence is that this is a one-time event," said Heine's attorney, John E. Smith. "Dr. Heine is not an animal abuser."

Heine has said he killed or attempted to kill the puppies because of the possibility they would catch parvovirus, a viral disorder often fatal to puppies. In June 2008 he imported two puppies from Texas that had the disease, contaminating his kennel and infecting a third animal. The puppies from Texas later died.

The abandoned puppies were an unwanted litter, fathered by a stray and born into the contaminated kennel.

A retired obstetrician from Kalispell, Heine has trained dogs for more than 40 years and his kennel earned a solid reputation among his clients and colleagues.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com