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Stand Up for Kaiser

Recently Olympic Animal Sanctuary offered to take ownership of dog named Kaiser in Ellensburg, Washington after a bite incident put him on the shelter's hit list. Ellensburg opted to kill the dog instead. Click here to read the story.

We'd like to respond to Ellensburg's lies and excuses for killing Kaiser. First, the article states that the City declared Kaiser "potentially dangerous" under state law, but then refers to him as a dog that has been declared "dangerous". The impression is given in the article that the terms 'dangerous' and 'potentially dangerous' are being used interchangeably by the Ellensburg Police Department, but they are not the same thing. According to the Revised Code of Washington, potentially dangerous dogs have to be kept indoors, leashed, or in a fenced yard. Failure to comply will result in the dog being declared dangerous. Dangerous dogs must be kept indoors, on leash with a muzzle, or in a secure pen with a fully enclosed top and a secure floor, usually of concrete. In addition, warning signs must be posted around the property, the dog must be specially licensed, and the owner of the dog must possess a liability insurance policy or a surety bond meeting the state's minimum requirements. Olympic Animal Sanctuary meets all of the state's requirements for keeping dogs that have been declared dangerous, and we have several already, two of which were declared under the Revised Code of Washington and others that were declared under local and county ordinances, or in other states, including Michigan, California, and Tennessee. None of these dogs have ever gone on to injure anyone after entering the Sanctuary's custody, and there is no reason to believe that Kaiser would have either. EPD could have kept its obligation to the public and allowed Kaiser to live, and if there was any question, they could have spoken to one of our officers in the Forks Police Department, who, thanks to us, are more familiar with dangerous dog requirements than most departments in other cities.

Second, Ellensburg's City Attorney states that the standard transfer agreement we sent the city for review did not transfer full ownership or liability to Olympic Animal Sanctuary. This is simply not true, and even if it was, we invited the city to make any changes they deemed necessary. But you decide; here are the relevant clauses from our standard contract:

" The Client shall release all rights of ownership and transfer into the custody of the Sanctuary the animal(s) described herein ... "

and

"The Client shall not be legally or otherwise responsible for any incident(s) involving the animal(s) after the physical transfer of custody to the Sanctuary or its agent(s), including but not limited to injury or death caused to human beings or domestic animals and damage to property."

And remember, if they didn't like the terms, we welcomed them to change them. Here is a direct quote from the email accompanying the contract that we sent to Animal Shelter Manager Paula Hake: "This is our standard agreement, but if you need to make changes feel free and I can go over them with you later today." I also made this offer over the phone.

We believe that the City of Ellensburg had no interest in letting Kaiser live, despite having a perfectly legal and responsible course of action that would have resulted in placement of the dog into a facility specializing in caring for dogs with histories of dangerous behavior and dogs with legal restrictions placed on them. We believe Ellensburg was humoring us, allowing us to think they were considering our offer while they killed Kaiser in secret before we could file an injunction to try to save him. We consider this behavior underhanded and cowardly, not to mention totally unnecessary. But forget what we think, tell the City of Ellensburg what you think. Click here to sign our petition.

Posted on February 11, 2011