Dozens of birds, dogs seized after fire

From exotic birds to geckos, more than 100 animals were removed Monday from a Kings Way home in Evergreen after a fire drew attention to the unhealthy conditions the pets were living in.

“We’re lucky the animals didn’t die in the fire,” Evergreen Fire Rescue Capt. Wayne Evert said. “This is definitely a case of hoarding, which is always hard to deal with — for the family and the animals.”

Evert said firefighters were able to put out the flames quickly in the front of the mobile home before they entered to find the animals.

Flathead County Animal Control officers worked with resident Kathy McKeeman to sort through her 15 dogs, more than 50 exotic birds, an unknown number of rabbits and several geckos.

McKeeman said she woke up around 7 a.m. with her eyes and nose burning. She saw smoke and rushed her dogs into the backyard before she returned to the house to find the fire. She opened a back bedroom door and black smoke rolled toward her.

“I knew I had to call the fire department, but I didn’t want to because of the mess,” she said as she waved her hand toward her front door.

Wood chips lined the floors of the house and dozens of bird cages were stacked along the walls. Her geckos lived in the kitchen, and the rabbits lived out back.

McKeeman said in recent months, rats and mice had infested her home. Some workers said there were hundreds living beneath the wood chips. McKeeman said there could be thousands.

“We think the fire was electrical, and I bet it’s from the rats chewing wires,” McKeeman said. “I’ve tried to get rid of them — I had to have used at least three bags of rat poisoning on them.”

McKeeman said she wasn’t sure how many animals she had collected in her home since she moved there in 1992.

“There’s a lot,” she said as she watched people stack cages in the front yard. “I started keeping them a long time ago, and I know it’s too much maybe, but I just love them. I take care of every single one.”

Flathead County Sheriff’s Sgt. Keith Stahlberg said while the home could be considered a hoarding case, he didn’t believe any charges would be filed against McKeeman.

He said at this point, the county was focused on finding places for the animals. He said he didn’t know how many would be returned to McKeeman’s care.

Cliff Bennett, the director of the Flathead County Animal Shelter, loaded the 15 dogs into his truck.

“These aren’t adoptable dogs, so we’ll have to hold onto them as long as the county says, so for an unknown amount of time they’ll take up space and staff time,” Bennett said.

He said the shelter has 54 indoor kennels and eight outside kennels. He said there were roughly 40 dogs at the shelter before adding in McKeeman’s dogs.

Evert with Evergreen Fire said he and several volunteers would work to find temporary homes for the animals that don’t fall within the county’s responsibility, particularly the dozens of exotic birds.

He said between removing the animals from the partially burned home, cleaning their cages and finding places for them to live, volunteers had weeks of work ahead.

“The house is no longer livable for humans or animals, and that leaves a lot for us to figure out,” Evert said. “We’ve hardly made a dent in there. I originally thought there might be 50 birds, but now I think it could be double or triple that.”

Several neighbors watched the scene from across the street.

Janet Beumer said although she liked McKeeman and saw her as a kind person, Beumer had been concerned about the number of animals living in a small space.

“I’ve been calling Animal Control for five years, most of us had,” she said as she pointed to other homes in the neighborhood. “But there always seemed to be something that got in the county’s way to rescue the animals, like they couldn’t get a warrant.”

She said she hoped the house fire and difficult situation would lead to healthier lives for every living creature involved.

As responders pulled cage after cage out of the home, McKeeman greeted her birds by name. She pointed to a golden conure named Buttercup and said she was one of the birds she hoped to keep. According to birdbreeders.com, that particular bird can cost between $1,000 and $3,000.

“I know this went too far,” McKeeman said. “But everyone right now is asking me to pick what animals I really want to keep and who to give up — and I get why — but they don’t know how hard it is. They mean so much to me.”

Reporter Katheryn Houghton may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at khoughton@dailyinterlake.com.