Monday, September 11, 2006

DOGPATCH OWNER TO ADD CATS, CHIMPS

Controversial Colville-area dog shelter operator Joyce Tasker plans to open a new $3,000 cat enclosure on Halloween, before moving on to birds and then chimpanzees.

"Next spring we're going to put in a bird enclosure and then, next summer, we're going to put in a chimpanzee enclosure - and then we're done," Tasker said.

Tasker, 60, began taking in cats last year while under a court order to have no dogs in the Dogpatch shelter she runs in her home in a suburban-style, four-unit subdivision a dozen miles southwest of Colville. She remained in the cat business after a judge ruled this year that her newly sound-baffled shelter no longer is a nuisance. A private foundation donated $3,000 to build permanent quarters for 15 to 20 cats, and Tasker said the new berths are already booked by a group of homeless purebred cats. She said an enclosure for injured birds will be relatively cheap and easy to build, but her proposed shelter for two chimpanzees will require more effort. Tasker believes her sociable dogs can help rehabilitate traumatized chimpanzees who are retired from research projects. "I'm hoping, too, that it will bring more people in to see Dogpatch because they want to see the chimpanzees," she said. Tasker and her next-door neighbors have engaged in years of court battles over whether her animal shelter is a public service or a private nuisance. The confrontations erupted this year in physical violence and gunfire, and the parties were featured last month in a national television special called "Neighbors from Hell."


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