My name is Jenn Nudelman. I had the honor fostering one of the 41 dogs surrendered by breeder/hoarder Eric Calvin from Goldendale, Washington. My sweet, soulful foster dog, Plato, died on August 18, 2012, from acute kidney and liver failure at the young age of five (5). Plato's condition was treatable had Mr. Calvin performed minimal care when necessary. Instead, he knowingly neglected Plato by refusing to seek medical care. I am asking for Justice for Plato. I also seek justice all the other dogs Mr. Calvin deliberately harmed. In his quest for greed on the backs of defenseless shar pei, he ignored obvious medically treatable conditions. I am asking that Mr. Calvin be prosecuted to the fullest extent allowable by thelaws of Washington State and that he be banned from ever owning another dog. In addition to fostering Plato, I am fostering Sinbad, another of the 41 dogs surrendered by Mr. Calvin. Sinbad is estimated at 1-1/2 to 2 years old and he is completely blind. He wasn’t born that way; he is blind due to the woeful neglect at the hands of Mr. Calvin. I also own, Mona, a senior shar pei, who was confiscated from Mr. Calvin’s property in Bend, Oregon in the year 2000. Mona came to me with shar pei fever, severe entropian, skin infections and fear issues relating to never having been socialized to the human touch. I have spent thousands on her medical care over the years. I wouldn’t trade her for anything, but her life didn’t need to be this tough. Today Mona is deaf and has limited vision. Had Mona received necessary medical care, she could have led a more pain-free life. Much of the shar pei community has given up on helping the “Calvin dogs.” Repeatedly, Mr. Calvin has dumped or surrendered his sickest dogs to the loving arms of rescue organizations. Many rescue groups have had enough and have refused to “enable” Mr. Calvin’s behavior. The Oregon Humane Society, Vancouver Shar Pei Rescue and others stepped up to help these defenseless shar pei, however. It’s not the dogs’ fault that Mr. Calvin is driven by pure greed and a complete lack of compassion. They rely on us to be their voice and that is why I seek Justice for Plato and all the others who have suffered at the hands of Eric Calvin. Please read the history below and consider signing the petition to seek Justice for Plato. I have included links to my sources. Provide comments, but please be respectful. Emotional pleas are acceptable, but shrill comments, foul language and hateful speech don’t advance our cause. In the late 1980s, Eric Calvin resided in Colorado and was a member of the Centennial Shar Pei Club. http://www.centennialsharpeiclub.org/history.html In the year 2000, Eric Calvin’s shar pei were confiscated from his Bend, Oregon property. He claims in a Goldendale Sentinel article published on September 21, 2011, that “My animals were stolen by a sheriff down in Bend. They stole them on the basis of them not being healthy. The dogs were healthy…” I beg to differ and I have living proof in my dog, Mona. http://www.goldendalesentinel.com/cgi-bin/start.cgi/cms/story.html?id=092120111230596125879 On April 5, 2005, Eric Calvin was denied membership to the Chinese Shar Pei Club of America. http://www.mem.cspca.com/Minutes/050405M.asp In September 2011, homes were evacuated due to the Monastery Fire burning in southern Washington. It took three hours, three horse trailers and more than a dozen volunteers to evacuate 106 dogs from Eric Calvin’s property in Goldendale, Washington. On September 15, 2011, the dogs were returned to Mr. Calvin, despite on-site observations of the dogs as having puss coming out of their eyes, some without ears, some missing hair in places and puppies covered in fleas. At the time of the return of his dogs, Mr. Calvin stated, “I will be downsizing to where I hardly have any [10-20]. I’m getting too old to take care of them.” http://www.goldendalesentinel.com/cgi-bin/start.cgi/cms/story.html?id=092120111230596125879 On May 3, 2012, Eric Calvin surrendered 41 shar pei to the Oregon Humane Society. News stories reported that Mr. Calvin was “overwhelmed with the cost and time required to care for so many dogs.” http://www.koinlocal6.com/news/local/story/40-dogs-mostly-Shar-Peis-coming-to-Ore-shelter/JRtuPb_JhkuP-Do8GB-leg.cspx David Lytle of the Oregon Humane Society said the main issue with the dogs was the “lack of proper medical care.” He also went on to say, “[a] responsible owner would be able to nip this in the bud and treat the conditions before they ever got to this kind of hazardous state.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj-LVwRA3UU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB9WiWUD6Ic When interviewed by the Goldendale Sentinel, Mr. Calvin claims the skin problems were picked up while the dogs were evacuated to the Klickitat County Fairgrounds during the Monastery Complex Fire last summer. He said, “[b]efore that all the dogs were very healthy.” That is a curious statement considering that on-site observations during the Monastery Complex Fire evacuations contradict that claim. Calvin said that he could not afford surgery for the dogs that needed it. He said, “I was giving them medication for their mites and I couldn’t afford eye surgery because I’m unemployed.” http://www.goldendalesentinel.com/story/2012/05/09/features/more-dogs-surrendered-by-breeder/696.html His claim that he’s unemployed is interesting considering there is a Terrestria Design business registered at his home address. Mr. Calvin is an architect/designer. Mr. Calvin doesn’t appear to have Terrestria Design or Oasis Shar Pei, his “kennel” name, registered with the Washington Secretary of State. This means Mr. Calvin isn’t reporting taxes on his design business or “kennel” income (I will let others comment on his preferred location(s) for selling puppies). On May 23, 2012, Mr. Calvin posted an ad selling shar pei puppies on Ebay Classifieds. The ad has since been removed. The Oregon Humane Society has provided the Klickitat County Prosecuting Attorney with a comprehensive list of the neglect/cruelty inflicted on the shar pei surrendered to their care. Let us all be part of the solution and do everything we can to ensure the Klickitat County Prosecutor levels every charge allowable by law against Eric Calvin. Please sign the petition seeking Justice for Plato! Thank you! Jenn