Pet rescue owner: ‘I ran out of time’

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

An animal rescue facility owner accused of neglecting dozens of horses, dogs and cats said Sunday she was devastated by the condition in which investigators found her animals.

Dawn Hamill, 41, who owns Dazzle’s Painted Pastures, 5555 W. 175th St., just outside Tinley Park, said a female employee she trusted allowed conditions to deteriorate in a barn only she oversaw.

The employee has not been charged.

“I take all the blame for not stopping her earlier,” Hamill said through sobs, two days after she was charged with eight counts of neglect of owner’s duties and two counts of cruel treatment.

Investigators with the Cook County sheriff’s department said Friday they found more than 100 animals on her property, many of them malnourished. They removed 63 dogs, 31 cats, six rabbits and 30 horses, ponies, sheep, goats and llamas.

Hamill said the two dead animals found on her property, a cat and a miniature horse, were both sick upon their arrival to her facility and that the horse, a rare dwarf breed, is a delicate creature with a short life span. She said they died overnight Thursday, just before investigators visited her farm.

Although she lived on the property, Hamill said she did not “keep on” the employee strictly enough to ensure the animals’ care. The employee oversaw the feeding and medical care of animals in an outdoor barn that Hamill said was insulated and heated.

“There were six or seven electric heaters,” she said. “But she trashed the entire facility.”

Investigators said some animals did not have food or water. Hamill said some water dishes froze overnight before sheriff’s police served a search warrant.

Hamill worked primarily in the office, also located on the property, and took care of animals confined to an addition on her home.

“None of the animals I was in charge of were taken,” Hamill said.

She worked with the employee on a daily basis, she said, but mostly as animals were adopted. The worker would bring a dog, cat or horse up to the front office to meet a potential owner, and they always were healthy, Hamill said.

Dazzle’s Painted Pastures occupies 3.5 acres just east of downtown Tinley Park. The area is popular with horse owners who can keep sheds and barns on their property because the area is outside village limits.

On Sunday afternoon, friends were helping her feed the animals and clean up the property. Nearly a dozen vehicles, some emblazoned with the Dazzle’s Painted Pastures logo, crowded her snowy circle driveway.

Hamill said the situation grew dire last week when she realized the employee had accepted too many dogs. She said she fired the worker and then contacted local animal control units to take some of the animals. She also planned an adoption event for the weekend, hoping to reduce her head count.

“I just ran out of time,” she said.