A pair of German shepherds killed their 91-year old female owner in Chehalis.
Dogs Kill Owner
Chehalis, WA - On Friday, the Lewis County Sheriff's Office issued a press release about a fatal dog mauling. On September 25, around 2:30 pm, deputies were dispatched to a residence in the 400 block of River Road for a report of a dog bite. "When they arrived, they discovered the victim had been attacked by two of her own German Shepherds, resulting in major trauma to both of her lower arms," states the release. The attack occurred inside the residence. She died during the Life Flight.
Press Release: River Road Dog attackDeputies are investigating a dog attack which occurred inside a residence in the 400 block of River Road in Chehalis on Wednesday afternoon. At around 2:30 p.m., aid personnel and deputies were dispatched to a dog bite of a 91-year-old female. When they arrived, they discovered the victim had been attacked by two of her own German Shepherds, resulting in major trauma to both of her lower arms. The victim was transported by aid personnel to the Adna High School to meet Life Flight, and later passed away on the flight to the hospital.
The following day deputies met with the co-owner of the two involved dogs who voluntarily turned the dogs over to law enforcement to be euthanized.
Anyone having possible information about the incident is encouraged to call the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office at (360) 748-9286, or Lewis County Communications at (360) 740-1105. - Lewis County Sheriff's Office, September 27, 2024
There are not many homes in the 400 block of River Road. There is one, however, where a 91-year old woman resides. In 2007, she survived flooding waters inside her Chehalis River property. At that time, she was an American Kennel Club judge and breeder of American Foxhounds. Some of her dogs were swept away. The flooding event occurred on December 3, 2007. The title of the final report is, "INCIDENT: The River Explodes Sending A 18-Foot Wall Of Water Through West Lewis County."
This same woman came under scrutiny in 2012, when more than 60 foxhounds were seized from her property. Many of the dogs were wading in water, feces and urine, reports The Chronicle. "A search warrant for [the] property, on the 400 block of River Road outside of Doty, was granted after she refused to allow investigators to enter the building on her property where the dogs were housed, according to the release." The woman admitted to investigators that her place was "out of control."
Address of Victim Confirmed
Audio dispatch log files from Centralia and Chehalis Fire Dispatch confirm the address in the 400 block of River Road they responded to on September 25 for an animal bite is where Nancy Ann Punches, 91, resides. Punches was killed by her two German shepherds. Police have not released the victim's name. Punches has a long history in the area, including being a breeder of American Foxhounds, surviving the cataclysmic 2007 Chehalis River flood, and being charged with 65 counts of animal cruelty in 2012.
A pair of German shepherds killed their 91-year old female owner in Chehalis, Washington.
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Law enforcement departments across the United States should release consistent "baseline" information to the media and the public after each fatal dog mauling, including these items.
Poor lady she lives to her nineties and died by her gs dogs.I wonder why she pick such a large dog .her body and age.she doesn’t have the will power to do so.if it was her dogs.
The link “under scrutiny in 2012” doesn’t work – not found.
Sorry about that, two links got combined. “under scrutiny in 2012” should be: https://www.chronline.com/stories/foxhounds-seized-in-doty-were-wading-in-their-filth,118042 Lewis County Sirens has more background: https://lewiscountysirens.com/?s=Nancy+Punches
Oh wow, excellent photos of the dogs and kennels – there’s that standing water they were talking about. Looks like a commercial-grade dog-farming setup. I wonder what the indoors looked like.
Uhm so someone who hoarded dogs for profit and treated them miserably was eaten by said dogs?
It’s sad she was a senior and maybe she didn’t have all her faculties, intact…
But does anyone else see the dramatic irony, here?
Or am I just bad at being human?
Then that begs the question of how she was allowed to obtain more animals to neglect…I guess.
It’s unusual for GSDs to attack an owner. Were the dogs being fed? Did someone else handle the dogs?
Were these the only dogs on the property?
The article says she’s an AKC judge. If she was having more than six litters born per year, she would have been inspected by AKC. There were reasons why this happened.
One of my acquaintances was shooting BB guns at his GSDs. His dogs were not being fed properly. He was out of money. He died and his dogs were seized. He was critically ill and was aware that if he went down, his dogs would eat him. Simply a fact.
handler aggression isn’t exceedingly rare in GSD , but it sounds like a possible
trying to break up dog fight ‘ because they are certainly prone to dog aggression
Not feeling terribly sorry for her. As you get older you should take into account what you can realistically do and being a dog breeder, particularly of larger dogs, is not a good idea.
Never own a dog that is capable of killing you is a good idea.
Large dogs can be too dangerous for elderly people to handle. I handle very few of mine. I routinely handle Nodder, my SD. I also handle his son. I could handle some others. However, handling dogs which are too big and too strong for a single elderly woman to handle is stupid. That teaches the dogs that they can do as they want which will require additional training to fix.
I got bitten by a small adult black male GSD.
His behavior was horrible. He came from my kennel as a baby.
He would bite anyone. Although his bites weren’t serious, they were inexcusable. Chompers was abused. The woman who raised him might have taken him out once daily. She shoved sticks up his rectum in order to get him to eliminate when and where she wanted. He learned to bite to prevent that. I found the behavior inexcusable. She would never have admitted she was wrong, and she is now deceased.
Chompers was biting over brushing him out and baths. He was placed in a different home and was doing well. However, I wish I had known about the abuse. The information came from her adult son many months later I could have helped him if I had known. The original owner dumped him for biting.
I can’t believe someone isn’t mentally ill to do something like that. Proof some people should be banned from having animals.
This story doesn’t surprise me in the least, and here’s why:
While I was growing up, some nearby neighbors owned a German Shepherd that they kept in a cage next to the house. We kids were warned, in no uncertain terms, never to go near this cage.
We were told that the dog was a “police dog” and it was there for “protection.” In reality, it was one of the nastiest dogs I have ever seen.
I was afraid of it — and very relieved when that family left the neighborhood.
How was it supposed to protect anything, locked in a cage?
Wowsers, the level of delusion, there.
Simple answer: Because it was too dangerous to be let out of the cage. If any of us kids approached the cage, the dog would lunge at us, barking and snarling.
I don’t know what police force this dog was part of, but it should have been put down.
Keeping a dog caged is abuse and against the law.
I doubt either statement was true.
Many people call a dog pen a cage. How big was the cage? Many folks have called German shepherd dogs police dogs. A police dog is a dog owned and trained by the police. Most often people are referring to a dog used for bite work as a police dog. Would most people refer to a Labrador retriever that only does drug searches for the police to be a police dog?
GSDs are a very territorial breed. Chaining and/or confining GSDs in small areas with lots of stimulation such as cars, loose dogs, cats, squirrels, children, etc. will often result in aggressive dogs. Squirrel comes. Dog barks. Squirrel runs away. Kid comes. Dog barks. Kid runs away. In the dog’s mind, it has chased the squirrel, kid, etc. away. The dog’s only entertainment is in acting aggressive. This is not a GSD problem. It is an owner neglect problem, but the neglect can cause serious aggression.
Lots of ‘experts’ have shit opinions too.
Look at Cesar Milan.
We have confirmed the victim’s address with the audio dispatch log files. Nancy Ann Punches, 91, resided at that residence. The person we had suspected.
Very thorough reporting, Colleen. That’s quite a history. It’s unfortunate whatever was going on that caused her to create such poor living conditions for the foxhounds, and too bad she didn’t stick with that breed. Maybe her health and age led to her no longer being able to care for the dogs properly, especially with so many. Breeding operations can turn into hoarding situations too quickly.
It’s just a guess, but I would suspect she had 2 German shepherds for “protection.” How sad. An elderly person would be better off with a security system, instead of animals that have minds of their own. I continue to long for a day when we update our thinking around so many paradigms.
And if she had wanted a dog for companionship, something small and calm that has never killed a person would have been a much better choice. What a terrible tragedy.
The only dog breed any of my family members have ever been bitten by is a German shepherd (2 different people in my family, and thankfully both were fairly minor). But I’m thankful my family has chosen to own dog breeds that have never killed people. When I get a dog again someday, I’ll do the same.
If AC would have banned her from owning any dogs as part of the plea deal from her hording case she would still be alive.
Granted, I can’t get too worked up about it.
Just one more case where AC failed to save a person from themselves.
Glad there were no kids or innocent elderly involved.
The lady found her self at the intersection of F around and find out.
I would ask why Adult Protective Services was not brought into this situation long ago. The 2012 incident was a big red flag that her judgement was not sound, particularly in regards to dogs. If she felt unsafe in her home, which was probably too much for her to maintain anyway, she should have been required to relinquish the dogs and convinced to move to senior housing.
Those dogs had a co-owner, so somebody was around.
So the poor old gal died for someone else’s profit?
Who profited? That’s who should be charged.
I worked for one of the orgs that seized the 72 dogs from the 2012 rescue. I later adopted three of those severely traumatized Foxhounds.
This woman hoarded those animals. I’ve seen the conditions they were living in. They were not living in standing water, they were living in 12″ of their own feces and urine. There were dead dogs inside the “barn” (more like a garage) and 20 puppies inside with parvo – they didn’t make it.
It was/is unforgivable. All three of my girls have since passed after a beautiful life spent knowing nothing but love and compassion post rescue. But they were all traumatized in their own way.
None of those dogs deserved the hell they endured from Nancy Punches.