Introducing Olympic Animal Sanctuary

Director Steve Markwell is currently under contract to purchase a property in Forks, Washington, to be the new location for the Olympic Animal Sanctuary. The facility has over 5,000 square feet of indoor space to house reptiles, birds, and/or small mammals. Numerous possibilities exist for adding onto the existing building, and there are several vacant parcels in the area that may potentially be rented for use as grazing land. If all goes as planned, we will take possession of the facility in March.

While this new facility does not meet our long term needs for housing large animals, it does allow us to do significant work with smaller animals, and it gives us a platform from which to expand. It is sure to be a busy spring, with a few rescues already in the planning stages.

Posted on December 29, 2006 | Link

Caleb

A call came today from a sanctuary volunteer regarding a 'vicious pit bull' that had taken up residence on a man's porch by the Forks airport and would not let him in or out of the front door. The dog had been there three days with no food, and only rain water to drink. Police were called but were unable to catch the dog.

Steve Markwell and the volunteer responded and were able to put a leash on the dog in under five minutes; he was not aggressive -- simply very afraid. Steve recognized him from a few months earlier, when he received reports of the dog running at large, knocking over trash cans and chasing small children, presumably wanting to play, but still scaring them. The dog had spent the first year or so of his life chained up behind a trailer with no interaction with other dogs and very little interaction with people. He didn't know what he was or how he should behave. After a few minutes with the sanctuary dogs, he seemed to understand that he was 'one of those' and began to behave more like a dog.

It is believed that the dog was abandoned at the airport, as the Forks animal shelter is located there. However, with no funding for animal control and no animal control staff in Forks, the shelter is not staffed and is normally empty, and no one would have been there to catch the dog and check him into the shelter. Having been described as an "aggressive pit bull" to police, the dog now has a 'record' and is unlikely to be adoptable, regardless of his actual disposition.

Update: Signs were posted about a found dog, but no responses came in. The dog, now named Caleb, will be a permanent resident of Olympic Animal Sanctuary, and is getting along very well with the rest of the pack. He's vaccinated and microchipped, and scheduled to be neutered.

Posted on December 10, 2006 | Link