PORT TOWNSEND — Eight dogs, being kept in what neighbors claim was an illegal kennel operation have been moved to the county animal shelter after a veterinarian reported one of the dogs had been abused.

The confiscation of the dogs is another chapter in the saga that started in January when neighbors living on a dirt road off the 9000 block of state Highway 20 complained about the number of dogs being kept and the condition of the property occupied by J.D. Rook, the dogs’ owner.

A warrant charging second degree animal cruelty was served at the property, but jail reports indicate that Rook wasn’t incarcerated.

The county negotiated with Rook in an effort to ease the situation and tensions in the neighborhood.

Rook’s former attorney, Johnny Hynson, at one point promised that the dogs would be moved but declined to give Jefferson County commissioners a firm date.