EAGLE MOUNTAIN — Quite deliberately, Karen O'Donnell and her husband moved to a remote area of the Cedar Valley.
The couple wanted a place with plenty of wide, open space because they want to continue to operate as the Friends-In-Need Animal Rescue Center.
They wanted to take in dogs that would be put to sleep at other local shelters.
They bought five acres in a farming area north of Eagle Mountain's town center, on a hillside on Lake Mountain Road. Their home is easily several hundred feet from the nearest neighbor — but they have still bought into trouble.
Neighbors say the O'Donnells have too many dogs. They complained to city officials, saying the dogs get loose and threaten small children.
"Every single night, they have six to eight dogs out in the yard, and they are constantly yapping," said Bonnie Jeppson, who lives on Lake Mountain Road. "They are not following any of the guidelines set for them, and I'm the one being punished."
Michael Edwards, another neighbor, said his concern is for his wife and young child. He said one of the O'Donnells' dogs attacked his child in his driveway and dragged the youngster several feet.
O'Donnell said she cannot believe her dogs are the ones causing the problems.
Since she moved in several months ago, she said one dog has dug out and that was before she and her husband put up a 6-foot-tall wire fence around the perimeter of the property.
O'Donnell would like to house 15 to 30 dogs. She has 12 at the home, she said, but is close to finding homes for three of those. "I'm waiting to see what happens," she said.
The city Planning Commission denied her request for a conditional-use permit that would allow her to build a boarding facility on the property and keep more than four dogs.
The City Council today will hear her appeal of the decision.
"I don't know what they'll do," she said. "I know if they deny me, I'll start adopting farm animals and become a sanctuary instead of a rescue."
O'Donnell is passionate about rescuing the animals.
With more than 42,000 large dogs euthanized each year in Utah shelters, she believes she has a duty to help save some of them, especially the healthy ones.
"Look at Kenai here," she said, rubbing the ears of a large, friendly husky. "Can you imagine him being euthanized?"
O'Donnell is a familiar face at many of the state shelters.
Suzanne Iovino, the adoption coordinator at Salt Lake County Animal Shelter, said she's worked with the O'Donnells for three years and has been impressed.
"We see a lot of animal-rescue operations. She's one with whom we've had positive results," Iovino said. "She comes in. She pulls an animal. She gets them their vaccinations, gets them spayed and neutered and sees to their adoption."
O'Donnell said it costs her and her husband a lot of money to care for and feed the dogs, but they are more than willing to pay those costs. She has rescued more than 100 dogs in the past two and a half years.
"We came here because we thought this was ideal," she said. "This is exactly why we moved out of a subdivision. All we want to do is just kind of be here and make our dogs happy."
E-mail: haddoc@desnews.com