IN AND FOR KING COUNTY

MARTHA SCUDDER, a single individual,

Plaintiff,

vs.

LARRY GALLOWA, a married individual

Defendant

NO.: 04-2-04721-8SEA

DECLARATION OF TRACY BENNETT DVM DIPLOMAT ABVP - AVIAN SPECIALTY IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANT GALLAWA’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

I, Tracy Bennett, DVM, make the following Declaration under Penalty of Perjury under the laws of the State of Washington:

1. I am over the age of 18, am competent to testify and make this Declaration based on my knowledge of the facts;

2. I am a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and a Diplomat of the American Board of

Veterinary Practitioners in the Avian Specialty. I have been in avian practice for 11 years as of June 2005. I own the Bird and Exotic Clinic of Seattle which I opened in 1997. My clinic is a specialty practice which exclusively treats birds and exotic pets. My caseload is approximately 90% avian. I treat birds living in pet situations as well as avicultural and other flock settings. I also have a bachelor’s degree and two years of graduate education in Biology. I have been a speaker on avian medicine to the public and my peers and have published in my field;

3. I was asked to inspect Martha Scudder’s aviary by Pierce County Animal Control

and performed the initial inspection with 2 animal control officers and the veterinarian for the

animal control’s facility in January 2003;

4. Animal Control asked me to write a letter outlining basic recommendations for Mrs.

Scudder for the aviary to improve what we considered to be an animal neglect situation. Mrs. Scudder had agreed to cooperate willingly according to Mr. Wally Hall at animal control;

5. I wrote a letter outlining my initial recommendations for Martha Scudder’s aviary and

sent it to Wally Hall at Pierce County Animal Control;

6. Animal Control asked me to re-inspect the aviary and we did so in June 2003;

7. I was asked to be an expert witness for the legal case listed above and asked for and

received all medical records from Dr. Singh Dhillon and Washington State University regarding all birds presented from Martha Scudder’s aviary;

8. I have reviewed these medical records, and based on these records and my personal

inspections of the facility, I state the following opinions as an expert in the field of avian medicine:

a. All animals have basic requirements necessary for survival including: a source of

clean and freely available water, adequate nutrition which meets the caloric and metabolic needs of the species, adequate space in their enclosure which allows natural movement, a sanitary enclosure free from accumulations of their own fecal material, protection from temperature extremes depending on species and regular medical care that provides treatment or euthanasia for sick/suffering individuals;

b. I state that these basic necessities are not provided to the birds at Martha Scudder’s

Aviary;

c. The medical records document the lack of these basic requirements and an extremely

high mortality rate related to their absence;

d. The medical records document multiple cases of starvation, dehydration and

“sudden” death of animals suffering from long term debilitating diseases which received no medical care;

e. The medical records also document multiple deaths from long term nutritional

diseases such as Hypovitaminosis A and atherosclerosis;

f. Also documented are multiple deaths from contagious disease such as

Chlamydiophila (Psittacosis), Neurotropic Ganglioneuritis (PDD or Macaw Wasting Disease), Pacheco’s disease (a herpes Virus) and Mycobacterium avium (avian tuberculosis);

g. Both Chlamydiophila and Mycobacterium avium are diseases which are contagious to

humans and present a significant human health hazard;

h. Any deaths in the facility of breeding individuals or neonates cannot be attributed in

any way to Mr. Gallowa, but instead to the long standing neglect in the care of these animals. This aviary has a long history of mortality due to very poor conditions as is well documented in the medical records which go back many years before Mr. Gallowa became involved in any way;

i. It is my understanding that Mrs. Scudder’s claim is that her birds failed to breed due

to the 3 inspections by animal control (2 including myself). As an avian veterinarian, I declare this is a fabrication. Three respectful and quiet visits to a very small portion of the facility which only included the areas inside Mrs. Scudder’s home and approximately 25% of the breeding areas, simply would not affect the breeding performance of these birds.

Signed this ____ day of ________________________, 2005, at__________________, Washington,

_________________________

Tracy Bennett DVM Diplomat ABVP - Avian