Animal Law Offices, PLLC

06/09/2026

Below is a copy of the Notice of Intent to Issue Cease and Desist Order in case M2025-1072 against Elyse Rybka.

06/08/2026

IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING WHATCOM AREA VETERINARY HOSPITAL:

Update from Washington Department of Health on 6.4.26:

"In April 2026 the Department of Health charged Elyse Rybka with the unlicensed practice of veterinary medicine and notified her of its intent to issue a cease-and-desist order. Charges allege that between June 2023 and April 2025, Rybka practiced as a veterinarian despite never holding a Washington veterinarian credential. Rybka also allegedly managed patients, performed surgeries, and prescribed medication."

LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST BELLINGHAM VETERINARY AND RYBKA:

Animal Law Offices, PLLC has sued Elyse Rybka and Bellingham Veterinary, as well as Edmund Sullivan, DVM. Rybka was working at Bellingham Veterinary over the period that charges have been alleged.

As part of ongoing investigation into Bellingham Veterinary, Rybka, and Sullivan, please contact Animal Law Offices, PLLC if you were induced in any way to bring animal(s) to Bellingham Veterinary based on any or all of the following beliefs/allegations:

(A) That Elyse Rybka was a licensed veterinarian.

(B) That Bellingham Veterinary used only licensed veterinarians.

(C) That Bellingham Veterinary has "experienced veterinary anesthesiologists" who provide "skilled pain management during and after all surgical procedures."

(D) That Bellingham Veterinary had boarded anesthesiologists on staff or who were routinely consulted.

(E) That Bellingham Veterinary provides "advanced specialized care in internal medicine, diagnostic imaging, surgery, dentistry, and cancer treatment."

(F) That Bellingham Veterinary had boarded internists, radiologists, surgeons, dentists, or oncologists on staff or who were routinely consulted.

Please contact 888.430.0001 or email [email protected].

N.B. Some people posting do not know any facts and have evidently not read the court filings, which I recommend.

05/09/2026

As part of Animal Law Offices, PLLC's continuing investigation into active litigation, anyone who has:

(1) Suffered economic loss from allegedly deceptive, unfair, or misleading business transactions, interactions, or advertising by or with Grit City Veterinary Surgical Center of Tacoma, or Corey L. Michel, DVM; or

(2) Suffered injury or death to one's animal seen at Grit City Veterinary Surgical Center of Tacoma, or treated/operated on by Corey L. Michel, DVM,

should please contact Animal Law Offices, PLLC at 888.430.0001 or by submitting responsive details to https://animal-lawyer.com/contact/.

This is not a solicitation for clients, but, rather, a request for information in furtherance of identifying potential fact witnesses.

04/28/2026

Animal Law Offices, PLLC is pleased to announce the hiring of its first associate, attorney Holly Y. Crawford.

Holly Y. Crawford was raised on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi, in a community that fostered her lifelong commitment to protecting animals and the environment. She earned her B.S. in Environmental Policy Analysis and Planning from the University of California, Davis, before obtaining her J.D. from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, William S. Richardson School of Law. While in law school, she distinguished herself as one of a handful of students to earn certificates in both Environmental Law and International Law alongside her J.D.

Ms. Crawford authored her legal thesis, Microplastic Meat: Are the U.S. and E.U. Effectively Regulating Microplastics in Animal Feed?, which highlights the gross and seemingly unavoidable mistreatment of farmed animals even in the face of strong legislation meant to protect them.

Ms. Crawford served as Program Officer for Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation & Disarmament, where she co-chaired a conference during the 53rd Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council. She gained hands-on legal experience through her work with the Beyond Guilt Hawaiʻi legal clinic, advocating for individuals facing unjust sentences, and through her involvement with the Environmental Law Clinic. She also served as Vice President of her law school’s Student Animal Legal Defense Fund chapter.

Following law school, Ms. Crawford worked at the Hawaiʻi State Capitol, where she contributed to drafting, filing, and advancing legislation protecting the rights of women, kūpuna, individuals with disabilities, animals, and Hawaiʻi’s natural resources.

Licensed in Hawai'i and Washington, Ms. Crawford offers much needed animal law assistance through Animal Law Offices, PLLC. Her two rescue dogs, Emery and Denali, are always with her as she consults with our clients and assists on their cases.

[Photograph: Holly and Emery]

02/08/2026

Just published is a treatise I authored for the legal encyclopedia American Jurisprudence Trials titled "Litigating Attorney Misconduct by Reference to Animal Imagery or Other Racist Tropes." It may be found at 193 Am.Jur. Trials 385 (2026).

Readers may find it particularly timely given the simianizing imagery and infrahumanizing references to various groups of people in the recent political discourse.

02/22/2025

As part of Animal Law Offices, PLLC's continuing investigation into active litigation, anyone who has:

(1) Suffered economic loss from allegedly deceptive, unfair, or misleading business transactions, interactions, or advertising by or with Animal Emergency & Specialty Center, 980 NW Reliance St., Poulsbo, Washington, or its Managing DVM Dr. Michael Stone; or

(2) Experienced what he or she believes may constitute an act of animal cruelty toward his or her animal by staff at Animal Emergency & Specialty Center, 980 NW Reliance St., Poulsbo, Washington, or its Managing DVM Dr. Michael Stone,

should please contact Animal Law Offices, PLLC at 888.430.0001 or by submitting responsive details to https://animal-lawyer.com/contact/.

This is not a solicitation for clients, but, rather, a request for information in furtherance of identifying potential fact witnesses.

02/10/2025

Class Action Notice: Larsen, et al. v. Dog Sciences, LLC dba Unleashed Academy and Mary Davies dba Dogology NW

On March 15, 2023, Amelia Lyle and Virginia Edmonds filed a class action lawsuit against Dog Sciences, LLC dba Unleashed Academy and Dogology NW, and Mary Davies dba Dogology NW, alleging false adv…

01/06/2025

https://azmirror.com/2025/01/06/when-vets-kill-pets-arizonas-oversight-system-looks-the-other-way-distraught-owners-say/

Critics say the board regulating veterinarians in AZ routinely dismisses serious complaints, showing urgent need for reform

11/21/2024

Happy to report that my client's emotional support dog Thor won before the Washington Supreme Court today. My client was convicted for a de minimis dangerous dog restriction violation, and the sentencing judge ordered her to sit in jail 364 days but provided that her ticket out of jail was for Thor to take her place and die.

Got sentence reversed at Court of Appeals. Prosecutor sought review and Supremes accepted only to affirm 7-2.

May be very interesting to other jurisdictions given question of when and whether a judge may suspend a sentence with forfeiture of beloved animals, and other "property" as a condition.

11/17/2024

https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/article295227794.html

“I don’t care about paying the filing fee,” she told the TNT. “This is a family member that somebody took.”