PORT ANGELES, Wash. — It all started last month when the Olympic Peninsula Humane Society in Port Angeles announced it was closing due to financial issues.
That left police with nowhere nearby to take dogs deemed dangerous.
"There's nothing that close to Port Angeles we could look at and feel that it's a facility we can use at this time," said Clallam County Undersheriff Lorraine Shore. "It is a big concern because these are difficult dogs to deal with."
Shore said in a span of just two days this month they had five dangerous dog calls. Deputies were able to resolve those issues with the owners, but Undersheriff Shore believes they've just been lucky.
"We've got a situation I would consider an emergency because we have no set facility we can take a dog to if we had a situation where we had a dog run down the street and bite a child," said Shore.
That has resulted in the Clallam County Board of Commissioners declaring a state of emergency involving dangerous dogs. The declaration allows officials to streamline county business.
"It allows us to, as a county, enter into an agreement very quickly and that is what's needed now," said Shore. "That helps us in the interim until we can find a more permanent solution."
All this comes with a disturbingly high number of dogs simply being abandoned due to the closure of the Humane Society and most other rescues being full.
"It's happening a lot," said Shore. "They're dumped in the parks. They're being dumped in the woods. They're tied up to places. It's pretty horrific really."
One bit of good news, community members have been stepping up to foster and adopt those abandoned animals, hoping this state of emergency ends soon.
The sheriff's office says it is working to secure agreements with other animal rescues and they hope to have something in place by next week.
"We've been very fortunate, so far," said Shore. "We're hopeful that continues."