No vampires. Just small town politics, Democratic corruption, a dream gone bad, hoarding, and dying dogs.
The Olympic Animal Sanctuary’s website is alluring: lovely rural scenery, pictures of dogs affectionately interacting with the Sanctuary’s founder, Steve Markwell, inspiring stories about the rescue of dogs no one wanted. The sanctuary claimed to provide a healthy, nurturing environment for dogs deemed undoptable due to behavior problems.
This is what the police saw about a year ago: (WARNING GRAPHIC)
https://www.facebook.com/...
More links:
http://www.youtube.com/...
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http://www.youtube.com/...
Yet the “sanctuary” is still there. Since no one is allowed inside I can’t say for a fact what conditions for the dogs are like today, but here’s what I do know:
There are over one hundred and twenty dogs in the warehouse.
The warehouse is in the city of Forks.
There is only one person to care for the dogs, Steve Markwell. He might have one or two occasional volunteers or paid employees, but there is no set schedule for when people will be in the building.
In the last week no one has been in the building for more than an hour or so.
The dogs are kept in crates and small kennels with straw for bedding. No dirty straw has been taken out of the building and no clean straw brought in in over aweek.
I’m guessing that some of the dogs are dead by now.
The warehouse stinks so much it can be smelled across the street. The dogs cry incessantly. The warehouse is in the Forks city limits. In an area of mixed light industrial and residential development.
So why didn’t this hell hole of hoarding get shut down last January when the police took the incriminating photos?
The short version is that a year ago the police were ready to raid the place but Mayor Monohon of the City of Forks stopped them. He stopped the prosecution in response to an email fro Matthew Randazzo, former Chair of the Clallam County Democrats who was, a that time, VP of the Olympic Sanctuary. Since then Randazzo has gone on to a position as head of the Department of Natural Resources.
This is the email Mr. Randazzo sent to the Mayor:
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This upsets the hell out of me since I expect better of Democrats, especially prominent ones.
As a result of Randauzzo’s defense of OAS, a deal was cut wherein Markwell was supposed to reduce the number of dogs to sixty. A committee was formed to help him re-organize, get dogs out of crates, and put the sanctuary on better management terms.
Markwell has only released five or six dogs. He has refused to release Itsy, Sohie, Sonny and Leroy even though the rescues that sent those dogs to him want them back. He is engaged in a legal fight to keep Leroy. BTW, Markwell’s claim that his dogs are too dangerous to release to anyone is ridiculous. He has a Yorkie, a poodle mix, a small spaniel mix, two hound dogs, several Eskimo dogs and a collie on the premises. He has dogs which he claims are feral, but feral dogs can be socialized. The Animal Rescue Corps has offered to take the wolf and coyote mixes. Of the over one hundred dogs at OAS, only four are registered with the police as dangerous.
The committee to help reorganize OAS broke up because Markwell would not cooperate with any suggestions.He is under investigation by the state Attorney General’s office for misuse of donations. He is the target of two lawsuits. Donations have dried up.
Conditions at the facility are probably worse now than a year ago.
Day after day goes by and still the City Council, the Mayor, and the prosecutor don’t act.
How can you help? Write letters! Contacts and model letters below. (Please be polite. The Clallam Conty Democrats are not responsible for Randazzo’s actions, nor is he Governor. Randazzo is no longer VP of OAS and may regret his actions.)
Matthew Randazzo: matthew.randazzo@dnr.wa.gov
Governor Inslee: https://fortress.wa.gov/...
Clallam County Democrats: http://www.clallamdemocrats.org/...
Forks City Council info@forkswashington.org
Talking points: You are a Democrat. Yu expect Democratic officials to support enforcement of laws protecting animals. The City OF Forks needs to enforce its requirement that Steve Markwell release dogs to rescues. The protection given to the abuse of dogs right inside of Forks is replacing the town’s image as the community of Twilight with the image of dogs in crates suffering in the filth and the cold.
Example letter:
matthew.randazzo@dnr.wa.gov
https://fortress.wa.gov/...
http://www.clallamdemocrats.org/...
Governor Inslee, Matthew Randazzo, and the Clallam County Democratic party,
It is with great dismay that I learned today that last January former Clallam County Democratic Party Chair Matthew Randazzo wrote an email to Mayor Monohon of Forks threatening him with an end to their personal and working relationship if the city pursued the prosecution of Steve Markwell of the Olympic Animal Sanctuary.
Link: https://www.facebook.com/...
I am a life long Democrat party because I believe the Democratic Party supports the rule of law and because I expect my party to support the enforcement of laws to protect animals from abuse. I can, to some extent, understand how last January Mr. Randazzo may have had some belief that Steve Markwell was capable of changing the mismanagement of the OAS facility so that the sanctuary could be run humanely and legally. However, since January Mr. Markwell has broken every promise he made for improving the facility.
The Forks Police had an abundance of evidence last January that the facility was an abusive situation. The dogs were kept in filthy conditions. Many were housed in crates which is innately abusive as long term crating causes a variety of physical and behavioral problems in the confined dogs. In addition there were dogs that were under weight, lacking in access to clean water, missing fur due to flea infestations, and one dog was dead, apparently having died of thirst.
Mr. Markwell was told to clean the place up, build kennels for the crated dogs, and to release at least sixty dogs to rescues. He also had the opportunity to work with a committee of experts to improve management of the facility.
Since then Mr. Markwell made a limited effort to clean up and released a few dogs from crates. However, he refused to cooperate with the committee, which has since disbanded. He has released only five or six dogs to rescues. He has refused to release Itzy, Sophie, Leroy, or Sonny to rescues that would take them. He threatened the rescue that asked for Itsy. He declined offers of other rescues to accept the dogs.
Mr. Markwell rationalizes that the dogs must stay with him or they will be euthanized because he claims they are too dangerous to be adopted. This may be true of a few of the dogs, but many are, in fact, workable, salvageable dogs. He has, for example, a Yorkie—surely not a dangerous dog!—,a small dog that looks like a poodle mix, a small spaniel-type dog, several Eskimo dogs, two hound dogs and a collie on the premises. The feral dogs are probably good candidates for socializing at a rescue since no particular expertise is needed: just time with people, which Mr. Markwell doesn’t have since he has over one hundred dogs to look after. Even the wolf and the coyote mixes could find a safe haven with ARC.
Now conditions at the facility have deteriorated to as bad, if not worse, than last January. The only care the dogs get, according to observers including the Forks police, is a brief daily visit by one person, sometimes Mr. Markwell or sometimes by one other person. That is not sufficient attention to meet the needs of 127 dogs. There is no sign that kennels have been cleaned—no dirty straw taken out of the warehouse and no clean straw to take in. Mr. Markwell refuses to allow anyone in to see conditions within the warehouse. And there are still many dogs confined to crates, dogs that have not been allowed out of crates for weeks or months.
This can’t go on. Please support the release of dogs from this facility. It is clear that Mr. Markwell lacks the funding, the staffing and the inclination to properly care for the dogs incarcerated for life in that warehouse. Whatever Mr, Markwell’s intentions may have been when he founded OAS, it is clear now that he has no idea how to run a humane sanctuary. The dogs have suffered long enough.
Mr. Markwell had his chance to run a rescue and he failed. It’s time to think about the well being of the dogs. It is also time to think about what it means to be a Democrat. I expect my party to be humane and to respect the processes of the law.
Thank you