Was The City Of McMinnville Negligent When Placing Notorious Wolf Dogs In An Unregistered Kennel? You Decide
I will fully admit that when I first heard about wolf-dogs roaming the streets of McMinnville, killing household pets, I thought it was fake. It seems absurd. Little did I know that these part-pet, part-force-of-nature beings had gotten out before or what this story was going to turn into.
However, I did not think the emotions were fake; Former pet owners. average citizens, city officials, the wolf dog owner herself, all seemingly leading with their emotions. Which, to some, is understandable. This is a highly charged issue with many layers to unravel. So, consider this: all these emotions stem from the love of pets and wanting all parties involved to have a safe life. But, leading with emotion can sometimes leave things like logic, reason, and the law behind.
Most of us saw Tiger King. And because of this Instant Covid Classic Docuseries, we now know that when exotic animals come into the picture, the cast of characters they attract can be outrageous, their stories can spin out of control, and the people, not the animals, can become the spectacle.
There are many different players in this live-action opera playing out in McMinnville, and now, beyond. (I’ll add more players and get to that in a later post.) There are the wolfdogs, the wolfdog’s owner, the City, Homeward Bound, the victims, the dead family pets, the Mac PD, and more. But I’m just going to focus on a few of them. Mainly, the location of the wolf-dogs since their impoundment, Coopers’ Kennel outside Amity, Oregon.
When I spoke on the phone with Coopers’ Kennel earlier this month, they were open about housing the wolf-dogs. The kennel stated that they sometimes care for the City of McMinnville’s Police Department canines. So, given their experience and already having a relationship with Mac PD, the kennel in Amity was asked to help with the situation. And they’ve been housing the animals, per a City of McMinnville court order, since March of this year.
This was ultimately because, according to personnel from Coopers’ Kennel and one other source, Homeward Bound refused to take the wolf dogs into their McMinnville kennel even though they were/are the contracted kennel for the City Of McMinnville since 2018. So, does this mean the Homeward Bound may have delayed the impoundment and the removal of the dogs from the wolf-dogs owner’s home? Is that why the City Of McMinnville waited a whole week to impound the wolf-dogs after their deadly attack on local pets? Or did the City of McMinnville delay impounding the wolf-dogs because of a larger issue?
As strange as it may seem, it appears that at no time did the court that issued the ruling on the wolf-dogs, the City, or the Mac PD, check to see if Coopers’ Kennel was a legitimate business. As in, registered with the state and all. And, according to the Oregon Secretary of State’s Business Registry for all businesses in the state, Coopers’ Kennel hasn’t been registered with the state to do business since 2018.
How could they make such an oversight? Will this impact the impoundment of the wolf-dogs? Will this cost taxpayers more money than this case has already cost the citizens of McMinnville?
I can’t answer any of those questions. But, at this point, I’m just over here with popcorn working on the ruff draft of the next chapter in Mac’s sloppy ‘WolfDog City’ legal drama.
Note: Homeward Bound did not return my attempt to contact them for comment. Nor has anyone from the city, including the City Manager, the City Attorney, or anyone from the McMinnville Police Department.
-Andrew Brunello