SEQUIM, Wash. — Washington State Patrol troopers responded late Tuesday night to an unusual incident on State Route 101 near Kirk Road in Sequim involving a large dog kennel that had fallen onto the highway.
Around 10 p.m., a woman driving eastbound on SR 101 hit the kennel, which had fallen onto the road.
Several malamute mix puppies were inside the kennel, some of which scattered into the nearby woods after the crash.
Troopers quickly took action, confirming one puppy had died from injuries on the roadway and rescuing two others, who were then transported to an emergency veterinary clinic in Poulsbo.
Troopers from Port Angeles and Bremerton coordinated a caravan to quickly get the injured puppies to a vet for urgent care.
The owner of the kennel, a 70-year-old man, was located shortly after.
He explained that he was in the process of moving from Port Gamble to the Port Angeles area when the kennel accidentally fell from his vehicle.
The driver of the car that struck the kennel was uninjured, and while no criminal charges were filed, the kennel owner was cited for an unsecured load, as required by law.
Volunteers searched for the puppies along the road.
A friend of Melanie Marshall, an animal rescue worker, found one of them Thursday morning unharmed.
“If you see the wreckage, I don’t know how he’s alive,” Marshall said.
Marshall works with Welfare for Animals Guild, a rescue in Sequim. She’s been helping care for the dog, which volunteers named Captain Kirk.
“He’s only a baby, and he’s being thrown out of a car, a truck, or whatever it was, right onto the highway for two nights with the rain and the cars going by,” she said.
Marshall said a friend of hers found another puppy, who was deceased.
She was shocked when she learned the owner of the dogs would not face criminal charges.
“It blows my mind,” she said. “It’s not only the puppies, that’s completely heartbreaking, that girl who hit that crate, she could have died. Other people could have died and puppies did die. It’s horrific.”