FORKS –– A Seattle animal rescue organization has petitioned Clallam County Superior Court to compel Steve Markwell, owner of the controversial Olympic Animal Sanctuary, to return a pit bull named Leroy that was placed in his care in 2009.
“From what I’ve seen of inside that place, it is not the kind of place I thought I was sending Leroy,” said Heather Enajibi, president of the Animal Aid and Rescue Foundation.
“He was a big, happy dog who just wanted to be loved. Now, I don’t what has happened to him.”
The civil suit filed Nov. 19 asks the court to order Markwell to return the dog that the foundation placed with Markwell in a foster arrangement in 2009, saying the dog has not received “adequate and humane” care in Markwell’s shelter at 1021 Russell Road.
Markwell told the Peninsula Daily News that the foundation asked him to keep the dog permanently and gave up its right to have Leroy returned by not requesting his return within the first year of the foster agreement.
Because Leroy goes after other dogs and has attacked handlers in the sanctuary, Marwell said the foundation asked him to keep the dog in his pink warehouse permanently.
“Heather was happy to have me keep him, and we agreed to throw out the foster agreement,” Markwell said.
Markwell runs Olympic Animal Sanctuary as a sanctuary for dangerous dogs that have been either ordered euthanized by courts around the country or who are too vicious to be adopted.
Markwell last reported 128 dogs in his shelter, which has become the target of an Internet campaign by animal activists who are demanding that the city shut Markwell’s shelter down.
After seeing photos taken by a former volunteer at the Olympic Animal Sanctuary, Enajibi said she asked Markwell to return Leroy on Oct. 31.
Her suit contends that Markwell and his attorney denied the request to return Leroy.
The organization’s suit contends that refusal violates the Aug. 12, 2009, foster agreement that said the rescue foundation could ask for the dog back.
A court date had not been set for the suit as of Monday.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Joe Smillie can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or at jsmillie@peninsuladailynews.com.
