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Last year the county added wolves, cougars, venomous snakes and foxes to its list of prohibited animals. Dave Colburn has kept wolves, cougars and foxes for nearly 14 years at Predators of the Heart in Anacortes.
The county recently filed a lawsuit against Colburn, claiming he's violating the ordinance and ordering him to get rid of the animals.
"If we cannot find a place to place him he'll be euthanized," Colburn said of Max, one of the 17 wolves at Predators of the Heart.
Colburn regularly takes the animals to schools, libraries, churches and fairs to educate people about exotic wildlife.
"They're not hurting anybody, they haven't hurt anybody," he said.
But if he can't find homes for them, Colburn said he will likely have to kill the two dozen animals the organization has rescued or raised on his 10-acres of land.
"It's breaking my heart, these animals are my life," said Kaleb Cole.
Skagit County Commissioner Lisa Janicki said pulling at heart strings isn't fair play. She calls the issue a matter of public safety.
"This isn't a petting zoo," Janicki said. "They're called predators for a reason. The county wants Predators of the Heart to be within compliance of state law."
Colburn said placing the animals in zoos or shelters is difficult and expensive. And he doesn't have much time before he could face fines of $50,000 a day.
"It's a $2,000 a day per animal fine that we're gonna be up against having to pay," Colburn said.
Colburn says he doesn't have that kind of money and can't afford an attorney to fight and will probably just have to roll over.
He's already spent money trying to get sanctuary status so he can keep the animals. But in order to do that, the county says he will have to change the habitat and remove some of the animals.
