PURRR Rescue’s attorney is threatening to sue Seattle DogSpot

Looks like I’ve struck a nerve or two.

Here is a picture of the 6-year-old’s injuries at the hospital after he was attacked by a neighbor’s dog adopted from PURRR Rescue. Photo credit withheld.

Last Wednesday, PURRR Rescue’s attorney Adam Karp sent me a 7 page letter demanding that I stop making “slanderous and libelous speech” against the organization.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised – PURRR’s response to almost anything remotely critical about the organization is usually to threaten a lawsuit. It’s the only nonprofit dog rescue in Washington I know of that has needed to use an attorney to defend itself multiple times.

Mr. Karp first contacted me on December 23rd last year after I sent PURRR Director Diana VanHusen questions about a dog adopted from PURRR that mauled a 6-year-old boy in 2013. 

In his response for Ms. VanHusen, Mr. Karp offered a number of explanations about the attack similar to the ones in the official report of Lakewood Animal Control Officer Bill Mathies about the attack.

He also claimed, among other things, that because the dog’s owner didn’t want to turn it over to Animal Control to be euthanized, Officer Mathies “told Ms. Van Dusen to lie to the (name redacted by Seattle DogSpot) and assure them that the dog would be safe and her life spared if delivered to him. If she did not cooperate, Mathies insinuated that he would cause trouble for PURRR. In my opinion, that smacked of extortion.”

In my opinion, accusing Officer Mathies of telling Ms. VanDusen to lie and indirectly accusing him of extortion seemed like a reckless statement. It also had nothing to do with the content of my article.

Still shot of one of the pop up tents PURRR uses to store the dogs in their kennels. The video for this shot has since been taken down from the PURRR Facebook page. Image from PURRR Rescue.

In another email in this exchange, Mr. Karp said, “I do intend to write you about your comments regarding the TNT article, which was defamatory so be prepared for me to ask for a retraction.” The article to which he referred is the one I wrote on December 17 entitled “Pierce County officials concerned rescue is adopting out dangerous dogs.” 

But I never heard from Mr. Karp again until February 11th after I wrote 2 more articles about PURRR: PURRR Rescue director admits she used taser on her dogs” and “Why is PURRR Rescue keeping 20+ dogs outside in tents during Washington’s rainy winter?”

Mr. Karp made a number of accusations, none of which I will address here since PURRR and Mr. Karp could decide to take me to court. Mr. Karp made this point clear in the letter he sent me last Wednesday, which he termed a “Prelude to Litigation.”

Despite all the threatening emails, my confidence in what I have written about PURRR has not been shaken, and I will not allow a rescue that conducts what I believe are questionable adoption practices pay their attorney to intimidate me.

If that means I have to defend Seattle DogSpot in court, so be it.

Stay tuned.