BAKER CITY— The Baker County Sheriff’s Office has seized two donkeys, eight cats, four dogs and 23 chickens and cited the owner of the Baker Valley property where the animals were kept after investigating allegations of second-degree animal neglect.

Deputy Craig Rilee cited Virginia Lee Gould, 68, of Baker City, on Thursday afternoon, Jan. 14, on a Baker County Circuit Court warrant.

Gould is scheduled to appear in court at 9:30 a.m. Jan. 26. District Attorney Greg Baxter filed a petition Thursday, Jan. 20, seeking a pretrial order requiring Gould to forfeit the animals.

The Baker County Sheriff’s Office seized and impounded the animals on Jan. 7 after executing a search warrant on Gould’s property at 15742 Hunt Mountain Lane, according to the Sheriff’s Department and court documents.

The donkeys now are being cared for in the Keating area, and the other animals are being tended by volunteers with Best Friends of Baker.

Unless a security deposit or bond is posted within 72 hours of the scheduled hearing that would repay all costs incurred for the care of the two donkeys from Jan. 7 to the trial date, the donkeys would be forfeited, the petition states.

The charge of second-degree animal abuse, a Class B felony, alleges Gould failed to provide minimum care for the animals. In an affidavit filed in court Thursday, Baxter stated, “The dogs, cats and chickens were housed in cages that had feces several inches deep. The dogs and cats appeared to be in poor health. The donkeys’ hooves had not been clipped in quite some time, causing the donkeys to not be able to walk in a normal manner.”

Baxter added, while the chickens also were in deplorable conditions, the state is not pursuing charges for the fowl.