Man, father sue over seized dogs

BANGOR – A Dover-Foxcroft man whose American Kennel Club license already has been revoked for inspection violations has filed a federal lawsuit against state and county officials, accusing them of ruining his reputation as a dog breeder.

Mark Hagelin and his father, Burton Hagelin Sr., demand more than $1 million in damages in the suit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court. It contends that their civil rights were violated a week ago when state animal welfare officials raided their Gray Hill Road home and seized 92 malnourished and dirty English springer spaniels.

Both men are representing themselves in the suit and claim that all of the state’s animal welfare laws violate their civil rights by giving their dogs “rights.”

“The whole idea that any animal has rights turns the law upside down,” the suit argues, “and violates the 13th Amendment prohibiting slavery. Property allegedly has more rights than its owner, in essence enslaving the owner.”

The suit, which refers to an alleged conspiracy against the Hagelins, names as defendants the state of Maine, Piscataquis County District Attorney Christopher Almy, Maine animal welfare program director Norma Worley, state humane agents Thomas Eddy and Jennifer Howlett, Dover-Foxcroft Police Chief Dennis Dyer, Maine State Police Trooper Forrest Simpson, and a number of “unknown” Piscataquis County deputies, private persons and other law enforcement officers.

Reached at a Bangor motel Friday afternoon, Mark Hagelin said the lawsuit speaks for itself and declined to comment on the record about his actions.

The lawsuit contends that Eddy, Howlett and Almy entered into a conspiracy when they executed a search warrant to seize the 92 dogs, which are recovering at the Bangor and Kennebec County humane societies. “Thomas Eddy has had a vendetta against the plaintiffs” since 2003, the suit claims. The Hagelins state that this conspiracy was furthered “by using a judge from Penobscot County” and that the dogs were seized “for the sole purpose of turning around and reselling them. It is a revenue making device being done under color of law.”

The dogs, if they could be sold as AKC-licensed dogs, could fetch $40,000 or more, the Hagelins maintain.

The suit also contends that Mark Hagelin, the only person cited in both the search warrant and in a possession hearing set for Monday, is the owner of just two of the dogs. The rest are co-owned by Burton Hagelin Sr., Burton Hagelin Jr. and Carol Hagelin, Mark’s mother.

A separate possession hearing requested by the state to determine who shall own the dogs, originally set for Monday in Dover-Foxcroft, has been rescheduled for 1 p.m. Monday, May 9.

State officials have said that all of the dogs seized were malnourished and full of parasites. Some dogs were starved to the point of muscle atrophy. In their lawsuit, however, the Hagelins maintain that 900 pounds of dog food was purchased on the Monday before the confiscation and that the dogs ate 400 to 500 pounds in a four-day period.

Justice Margaret Kravchuk gave the Hagelins 10 days to show why they are indigent to the point of being unable to pay the $250 suit-filing fee.

Meanwhile, Dover-Foxcroft selectmen will discuss taking possible condemnation action against the Hagelin home in a meeting at 6 p.m. Monday, April 25. Those who entered the home to retrieve dogs said the floors had 2 inches of standing urine and dog feces.