Globally sensational case began with fur farming & commercial crabbing, says sheriff
GUEMES ISLAND, Washington––The victims were fur farm foxes, not domestic dogs, who may have died from anal electrocution, gassing with car exhaust, or lethal injections of anything deadly. Since their point of origin is undisclosed, there is no telling whether any law there specifies just how fur farm foxes are to be killed before skinning.
The intended further victims were crabs, who despite increasing evidence of sentience are still commonly boiled alive with impunity as the center event at family get-togethers.
For those reasons, the Skagit County sheriff’s office “does not anticipate referring any charges to the prosecutor’s office,” My Northwest lead editor Frank Sumrall reported late on April 10, 2026, after two weeks of international furor over what was widely amplified as an alleged mass crime against domestic dogs.
Local case, but we awaited the facts
Guemes Island, 30 miles straight north from the ANIMALS 24-7 home office, up the Saratoga Passage, Skagit Bay, and the Swinomish Channel, is hidden only by Strawberry Point northeast of Oak Harbor, and by the rocky Gibralter area west of Anacortes, on Fidalgo Island.
It was a local story, but ANIMALS 24-7, suspecting something like the truth that finally emerged, held back on reportage until the key facts were clarified.
The same could scarcely be said of other media, both local and global.
The case of the 25 dead canines washing up on and near Guemes made banner headlines in the New York Daily News and The Guardian, of England, producing speculation about witchcraft, Santeria, serial killers, and even perhaps someone drowning a sled dog racing team.
But “According to the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office,” Sumrall summarized, “the dead canines were foxes who originated from a farm outside of Washington,” which could mean neighboring Idaho, Oregon, or British Columbia, all of which still have a few active fox farms.
“The foxes were ‘lawfully purchased and transported into Washington’ for use as crab bait,” Sumrall paraphrased the sheriff’s office statement.
“Tossed the foxes to lighten the load”
“The sheriff’s office told KIRO 7,” a Seattle news television station affiliated with My Northwest, “that, while crabbing, the boat had some kind of mechanical issues, causing the operator to toss the foxes to lighten the load when the boat was taking on water.
“The owner of the foxes is currently cooperating with law enforcement,” Sumrall said.
Summarized Olivia Sullivan for rival Seattle television news state KING 5, “Since March 26, 2026, at least 21 canine carcasses washed up along the beaches of Guemes Island, north of Anacortes,” an upscale enclave with about 500 residents.
“The carcasses were found between Peach Preserve to Kelly’s Point and near La Conner,” on the mainland, Sullivan detailed.
$25,000 reward posted
Guemes Island fire chief Olivia Cole told media soon after the first remains were found that the canines’ bodies had been skinned, that some were missing their hind paws, and that some had orange twine wrapped around their necks.
“The Skagit County Sheriff’s Office said the foxes were used as bait in commercial crabbing operations,” Sullivan confirmed, adding “The incident remains under investigation.”
Only 24 hours earlier, KIRO 7 reported that the Helen Woodward Animal Center in Rancho Santa Fe, California, had posted a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspected serial dog killed.
(Beth Clifton photo)
“I want this stopped!”
“I’m offering a reward because I want this stopped. The thought of an individual out there hurting these defenseless animals, it just absolutely sickens me,” Helen Woodward Animal Center president and chief executive Mike Arms told KIRO 7.
“I have fought for animals for more than 50 years,” Arms continued, “and will continue to fight for animals wherever they are. They deserve our kindness and love, not this senseless, inhumane treatment. This person or these people need to be arrested.”
Arms, after U.S. Navy duty in the submarine service, began his humane career as an accountant with the American SPCA in New York City in 1968. He became a humane investigator after intervening in a situation in which men were betting on how long a dog who had been hit by a car would survive.
Stabbed by one of the men, Arms recovered to spend 20 years as shelter manager for the North Shore Animal League in Port Washington, New York, 1976-1996, followed by more than 25 years with the Helen Woodward Animal Center.
Though Arms himself is a longtime vegetarian, neither foxes nor crabs are within the scope of the Helen Woodward Animal Center mission, which focuses on rehoming and treating dogs, cats, and horses.
“Am I living in crazy town?” asks Karp
Bellingham animal rights attorney Adam Karp believes criminal charges are in order, even if killing foxes for fur and killing crabs to eat are both fully legal.
“So despite signs of severe animal cruelty and an identification of the culprit and probably illegal dumping of animal bodies, there will be no charges? Am I living in crazy town?” Karp posted to Facebook.
“And what type of monster uses foxes in crabbing? The intersection of exploitation and governmental condonation is astounding,” Karp raged.
“I still think a civil cause of action could be brought for nuisance,” Karp added, “so I hope that someone reaches out to me who lives on the island.”
Fur farming evolved with lobstering, crabbing, & sealing
In historical fact, the fox and mink farming industries grew up in Atlantic Canada, Maine, and in the Pacific Northwest as adjuncts to lobstering, crabbing, and seal hunting, currently underway as usual each spring off Newfoundland and the Labrador Front, albeit at a much reduced scale from the peak decades of the late twentieth and early 21st century due to lack of market demand for seal pelts.
Traditionally, the remains of seals, mink, and foxes skinned for fur were either fed back to farmed mink and foxes or used for lobster and crab bait.
Also of historical note, Guemes Island was called Qweng qwengila by local Native Americans, meaning literally “many dogs,” or metaphorically, “Dog Island.”
According to early explorers and settlers, the island hosted a large population of Salish woolly dogs, whose hair was reputedly woven into garments.
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Foxes and crabs are among the many who do not matter to those in power and control. The facts behind the “dead dog” incident may shock dog-lovers, however, and perhaps even a few fur fans.
I am one who, when confronted with data about how vast numbers of farmed animals were slaughtered to provide our species with food product, immediately ceased to eat their flesh and adopted a plant-based nutritional diet.
As I read more about various wild animals such as those subjected to the hell of fur farms, I also threw out my fur coats. Realizing as I did that each sentient animal has nerves which feel pain as well as psychological sensitivities, I did not wish to be responsible for or condone that hurt and harm.
That those who have no qualms about such modes of housing or slaughter continue to do so and aware that many businesses make a substantial living from their exploitation fills me with anger, loathing and shame. That the law, corporations, businesses and governments allow and encourage such intolerable cruelties sickens me and I condemn them all.
All I can do is protest, such vile treatment and not participate in its inhumanity. Many persons in our species are loathsome, as I learned in my history lessons and by reading/viewing the daily news and attempt to deal with that harsh reality as I am able by writing my letters to editors, donating to those organizations which feel as I do and attempt to legally end these harms.
Thank you for being one of these admirable entities and bringing these unconscionable reports to those who care.
Wait wait wait a minute. The foxes were found with twine wrapped around their necks? So how are they being killed? This is sadistic. And fox meat for crab bait??? Is that even a thing??
The twine would probably have been for bundling and carrying. Using the remains of skinned farmed fur animals for crab bait is, as the article above explains, an old and very common practice.