Animal investigator goes above and beyond normal duty

Danielle Switalski

Deputy Dave Hedley is so much more than simply the Sanders County animal investigator. He is not only the first on the scene in the majority of animal cruelty cases throughout the county, but he takes it upon himself to make sure the animals are taken care long after they are rescued.

Most remarkable was his time and energy given to the Camas 13. The Camas 13 was the name given by the Sanders County Sheriff’s Office to the 13, of the 17 horses, that survived during an animal cruelty investigation in Camas Prairie on July 18, 2008.

Hedley was the first to arrive to the scene after receiving a phone call from a woman claiming there were two dead horses along the fence line of a property on Michelle Creek Road.

It was determined that the horses had died within the last 36 hours prior to the call made to Hedley. Looking at the property further, there was a herd of horses gathered near a trailer house, trying to get out of the sun, as the property was entirely without shade.

Furthering the investigation, Hedley realized the trailer was no longer lived in, with one horse that seemed to be hanging on by a thread.

“There was one horse in particular that was down and leaning up against the house, in a sluggish fashion. So that gave me probable cause to figure there were horses in distress at that point,” said Hedley, who added that later in the day, one horse died right in front of his eyes.

The horses were indeed in distress. It was determined that the horses had gone without water for at least 15 days prior to July 18 as the person that was allegedly taking care of the horses passed away around July 3.

“I noticed that all of the fecal matter around the area was very ballish, very dried out and unhealthy, which was showing signs of dehydration,” said Hedley. It was confirmed by a vet, who performed a minimal autopsy on the dead horses that they were definitely dehydrated. There was also not a single running water source on the entire property.

This is when people in the local community mobilized. A local Plains man brought two water tubs and buckets to the site that same evening, so Hedley could slowly begin giving the horses water.

“They’ve been without water for so long that when we walked out with the buckets, within 20 or 30 yards of them, they came a moving,” said Hedley.

Having a very small budget for animal investigations, Hedley took it upon himself to raise money to bring the horses back to health and find them good homes, while taking two of the horses that were in the worst condition into his own home.

The recuperation process was slow and timely for the 13 horses, as not only were they severely dehydrated, but they were suffering from an illness called Strangles, which is similar to strep throat in humans.

Hedley said economically it was easy to bring the horses back to health from the Strangles, as they made mass quantities of B-Pulp to feed to the horses, which is extremely high in protein and fairly inexpensive. Ellen Childress of Plains was responsible for the majority of aiding in this recuperation process and spearheaded the bounce back of many of the younger horses.

Another issue before the horses could find a home was getting them used to humans again.

“One of the big things we had to fight with all the horses was that they’d been segregated from human contact for so long that none of them wanted to be touched and that was something we had to start overcoming before we could start getting them ready for adoption,” said Hedley.

The horses were eventually moved to the fairgrounds in December of 2008 when they were given a full bill of health, so Hedley could have easier access to them and stop having to travel all the way to Camas Prairie three times a week to look after the horses.

Three of the horses had a tough time getting their weight back. Fudgey and Gideon, were two of the horses in the worst shape and the two that Hedley ultimately took into his home to look after and raise.

“We took Fudgey because she was kind of off kilter and she’s never been a totally brilliant horse,” said Hedley. “(Gideon) has turned around and is pretty much a normal horse and he suffers no major side effects other than he’s going to be small, instead of making his full size, he will be a tad smaller than a normal Palamino will be.”

Besides simply taking in these two horses, Hedley alone raised through community awareness, more than $18,000 over a six to eight month period, which was the total amount it took to transport and care for the Camas 13.

For Hedley, his work as the solo animal investigator in Sanders County goes above and beyond simply doing investigations, but it is time consuming and he gives as much care as he possibly can to any and all of the rescued animals. All 13 horses were adopted into homes throughout the area.

“I can’t save the world, I can’t save all the animals out there, I know that. I’ve been in law enforcement 30 years, I do this as a side job and it’s not my primary mission in life,” said Hedley. “I’m retired from federal law enforcement, so I do this to make a difference, how much of a difference I can only let my peers and community judge me by what I do, I can’t judge myself.”

Questions or comments on this story can be emailed to Reporter Danielle Switalski at Reporter@vp-mi.com.