Olympic Animal Sanctuary

OLYMPIC ANIMAL SANCTUARY WAS A FRAUD

December 24th marked the one year anniversary that the 124 dogs imprisoned in the Olympic Animal Sanctuary (OAS) in Forks, WA by Steve Markwell were turned over to the Guardians of Rescue in Kingston, AZ.

This is how Thor lived 24/7 inside the Olympic Animal "Sanctuary." He was never let out for exercise, lived on filthy hay soaked with his pee and poop, and only had dirty water to drink. Photo from OAS-Life inside the Sanctuary.

This is how Thor lived 24/7 inside the Olympic Animal “Sanctuary.” He never went out for exercise, lived on filthy hay soaked with his pee and poop, and only had dirty water to drink. Photo from OAS-Life inside the Sanctuary.

Markwell claimed the “Sanctuary” was a place where dogs scheduled for euthanization due to severe behavior problems could live out their lives peacefully and happily.

Sadly, it was no sanctuary for dogs.

Markwell kept up to approximately 160 dogs locked in crates 24/7 inside an unheated warehouse and forced to live on top of filthy straw soaked with their own urine and feces. They got no exercise. Markwell fed them starvation rations that mainly consisted of maggot-filled meat stored on the dirty warehouse floor for days. They had no reliable access to fresh water.

While the dogs suffered, Markwell continued to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations

Markwell insisted that these dogs were extremely dangerous and unadoptable. He liked to say the dogs at the “Sanctuary” were the ones people “would rather see dead.”Fortunately, the “Sanctuary” is now gone, and Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson sued Markwell last summer for Washington’s Charitable Solicitations Act and

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Consumer Protection Act for failing to maintain records of how he spent $300,000 donated to the “Sanctuary.”

But as you’ll see in my series of posts about these dogs, many of them are not dangerous. Others had behavior problems but still found forever homes.

THOR & MIMI’S STORY

Thor and Mimi are a couple of huge sweethearts rescued by Gentle Giants, Inc. in New Jersey a couple of weeks after they escaped from the Olympic Animal “Sanctuary.” Gentle Giants also rescued Turk.

And when I say huge, I mean HUGE – Thor is a St. Bernard, and Mimi is a Grey Pyrenees mix, similar to Bailey.

No one knows of their histories before they arrived at the “Sanctuary.” Thor was there for more than four years, but Mimi was lucky – she arrived in October of 2013, just 2 months before all the dogs were rescued.

But 2 months was long enough for Mimi to develop several health problems. According to Gentle Giants founder Candi Bright, Mimi arrived in New Jersey 20 pounds underweight with “a matted smelly filthy coat,” and full of whipworms.

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Mimi had been spayed before she arrived in Forks, and, as an example of how well Mimi’s former owners cared about her and the quality of the medial attention she received in the “Sanctuary,” the stitches from her spay surgery were still intact when she arrived at Gentle Giants.

THOR was 30 pounds underweight and also full of whipworms. Because he was confined 24/7, he had muscle atrophy in rear legs. In addition, his skin was infected with yeast and bacteria, some of his fur was missing, and the fur he had was “filthy and matted.”

Fortunately, like Turk, Thor and Mimi got excellent care when they arrived in New Jersey, and all 3 dogs are doing great. They will all live their lives out with Candi, who will give them more love and attention than they could have ever imagined.

Thanks to Candi and Gentle Giants for giving these dogs new lives.