Graham-area woman accused of neglecting alpacas, emaciated horse, other animals

A herd of alpacas starving amid skulls and bones of other animals was part of a neglected menagerie that animal control officers seized at a Graham-area home, according to court records.

The woman living at the property, Heidi Anne Christensen, 52, is to be arraigned Feb. 26 on four counts of first-degree animal cruelty and four counts of animal cruelty in the second degree. Court papers don’t list her attorney.

The charging papers give this account:

Pierce County Animal Control officers arrived to search the home in February 2014 after a passerby called to report a horse that looked underfed and covered in burrs.

Investigators found the horse, 13 alpacas and a llama. A turtle, a green parrot, two cats and three dogs were in the house.

Many animals had no food; some had no water.

To catalogue the animals, officers gave them numbers.

They found the horse, 5A, emaciated with overgrown teeth and hooves, in an area littered with trash and 11 animal skulls.

Alpaca 2A was the only living animal in its pen, where officers said it was starving amid five animal skulls.

Elsewhere on the property, alpaca 6A was thin and had overgrown teeth, matted hair and burrs. 6G was starving and died at a veterinarian’s office.

Also starving was llama 6K, which had a coat and skin in poor condition.

The cats and dogs appeared to be healthy, but officers noted some litter boxes were full of feces, a dog kennel had no food or water and the house smelled like a barn.

The parrot’s cage was rusted and filthy, and the turtle, animal control officers said, was cold to the touch.

Aquariums in the home held dark, stagnant water, but no fish.

This story was originally published February 18, 2016 at 4:39 AM with the headline "Graham-area woman accused of neglecting alpacas, emaciated horse, other animals."