Update as of 3/1/13 - Mal Village is closing down as all the rest of the dogs are transported out.
Update as of 2/26/13 - The last of the dogs heading to rescue groups will be leaving Mal Village in a couple days and they will be shutting down the village.
Moonsong and Arctic Breeds Rescue have together taken in 36 of the Aluk dogs - 16 have been adopted and a few more are getting adopted soon. Check out the new listings for all these dogs and the rest of our foster dogs on the Adoptable Mals page.
Update as of 2/17/13 - Moonsong now has about 20 of the Aluk dogs in foster care and they are thriving! Thanks to our wonderful foster homes for taking in these dogs and getting them the care and compassion they need!
Update as of 2/13/13 - Moonsong will be taking 6 more Aluk Mals into foster care this weekend. One will be getting adopted! Thanks SO much to all our awesome foster homes who are caring for these dogs!
Update as of 1/26/13 - Moonsong has just taken in 5 more Aluk Mals - two of which are going to their furever homes!
Update as of 1/19/13 - Moonsong has recently taken in 6 more Aluk Mals in foster care in Payson, UT.
Update as of 1/12/13 - Moonsong has taken their first 4 Aluk Malamutes into foster care in Boise, ID and Livingston, MT and plans are underway to transport another 14 into foster homes and a few directly to adopters. See the related news stories about the first releases.
Update as of 1/3/13 - Now that the dogs have been released, and spayed and neutered, plans are underway for where the Malamutes will all go. At least 17 or more will be leaving Mal Village this weekend to three rescue groups - Moonsong Malamute Rescue, Washington Alaskan Malamute Adoption League (WAMAL) and Malamute Rescue of Alaska.
The Lewis and Clark Humane Society will be keeping quite a few at their shelter to adopt out and we are referring all MT inquiries to them. If you are in MT, you can contact them at: lchsadmin@mt.net or call 406-442-1660 and ask for Jessie or Christine.
If you are interested in fostering or adopting, please check with your local AMAL Malamute rescue affiliate which can be found here. Contact montanamalamuteseizure@gmail.com if no Mal affiliate is available for your state. At this time the Aluk malamutes all range in age from right around 1 year old up to seniors around 8-9 years old. They are all wonderful dogs that deserve a home of their own! See More Links below for the latest news stories.
Update as of 12/29/12 - Now that the dogs have been released, they will be getting spayed and neutered and plans are underway for where the Malamutes will all go. See More Links below for the latest news stories.
Update as of 12/19/12 - Mike Chilinski was sentenced to 30 years in the custody of the Department of Corrections, with 25 years suspended, for more than 90 counts of animal cruelty related to a malamute breeding operation in Jefferson City. Chilinski, 52, will not be allowed to work with animals for the duration of the sentence. He also is awaiting sentencing on federal charges of growing marijuana. That sentencing, which carries a five-year mandatory minimum, is schedule for April.
Update as of 12/6/12 - The sentencing on the cruelty convictions is scheduled to happen 12/19/12. We anticiate the dogs will be released to rescue after that!
Update as of 11/6/12 - Mike Chilinski plead guilty to the drug charges. We are still waiting to hear the sentencing for the animal cruelty convictions and for when the dogs will be released to rescue.
Update as of 10/29/12 - Mike Chilinski will plead guilty to the drug charges. We are waiting for the sentencing to happen with the animal cruelty charges and for when the dogs will be released to rescue! See More Links below for the latest news stories.
Update as of 10/18/12 - The jury came back with guilty verdicts on all 91 counts of felony animal cruetly! See More Links below for the latest news stories.
Update as of 10/17/12 - The prosecution has called all their witnesses and has rested their case. The defense is now calling willnesses. See More Links below for the latest news stories.
Update as of 10/16/12 - The jury has been picked and the trial began Monday, 10/15. The Helena Independent Record is covering the trial and providing updates here.
Update as of 9/10/12 - All 33 released dogs are either in foster care or have been adopted. Moonsong has had a total of 6 adoptions of the Aluk dogs that we have taken into foster care. There have been at least four other adoptions from other rescue groups.
Update as of 8/16/12 - Moonsong will be taking the last 3 Mals that have been released into foster care this weekend. We have had 4 total adoptions of these Aluk dogs so far.
Update as of 7/9/12 - Moonsong transported 6 Aluk dogs to foster care and one other was adopted this last weekend! One of the 6 went to Arctic Breeds Rescue in Utah. We still have 5 more to transport to foster care and 1 other will be adopted locally in Helena this week. Woo Hoo! Look for the new pup's listings soon.
Update as of 6/30/12 - 33 Aluk Mals have been released to rescue and Moonsong will soon be taking about 12 into foster care. Two have adoptions pending already. :-) Only about 5 more to find places for. See More Links below. Here is the latest news release from AMAL:
"Very good news. Out of the 33 malamutes released to AMAL, 4 have been transported to WAMAL and are now in good hands in Spokane. Soon 5 more will be making their way to Colorado transported by an AMCA member who brought up 2 pallets of food for Project Malamute. Two AMCA members will foster the dogs until other arrangements can be made by the Polaris Alaskan Malamute Rescue.
29 of the malamutes have been spayed and neutered
We have lots of interest in the Helena area since news of the release and some adoptions are pending. The LCHS has agreed to help us with home checks, meet and greets and present Moonsong Malamute Rescue's adoption application to interested Helena area applicants.
Moonsong finished evaluating all the Mals. A spreadsheet containing pertinent information about each one with pictures will be available soon of the Mals that were released.
In news that seems so long ago but was just last weekend, a couple of us helped moved the 160 malamutes from the old Malamute Village to the new location. A grand experience coordinating moving dogs out of kennels, moving the kennels to the new building, then moving the dogs, row by row. All in temperatures that rose to 100 deg F during the day. Those Montanans smoked the Alaskan.
Finally, if you are interested, a couple of us are heading to help with the malamutes July 21st and 22nd. Lots of things to do there. Walk the dogs, play with the puppies, and More. I can't guarantee you hot temps but I can guarantee a good time."
Update as of 6/16/12 - Mike Chilinski, who is charged with over 90 felony counts of animal abuse, has released 28 of his Malamutes to the Alaskan Malamute Assistance League (AMAL) to be re-homed. We are working closely with AMAL to help get these first dogs to rescue groups throughout the country. The release list has just recently been obtained and there are 20 females and 8 males ranging from 1 to 8 years old. The released Malamutes are scheduled to be spayed and neutered soon and transport is being arranged for a week later after they have recovered from altering. If you wish to adopt, foster, or assist in transport or help us in other ways, please contact your local AMAL affiliate found here: http://www.malamuterescue.org/rescue/listorg.html You can also email montanamalamuteseizure@gmail.com or leave a message at: 419-512-2423. If you are in our Moonsong assistance area (ID,MT,WY,UT,NV), you can send an email to rescue@moonsongmals.org and please visit our Adoption and Foster pages to fill out an adoption or foster application.
Update as of 6/12/12 - With the help of AMAL's president, Bob Sutherland, the Lewis and Clark Humane Society has found a new site to house the dogs. AMAL and Moonsong Malamute Rescue will be assisting in the move before the end of the month. See More Links below. Please consider suppporting the shelter while they continue to care for all the Mals. Click Here to donate to the shelter.
Update as of 6/6/12 - The Lewis and Clark Humane Society just lost their lease on the facility where most of the dogs are residing and have to move them all out by the end of this month. See More Links below. Please consider suppporting the shelter while they continue to care for all the Mals. Click Here to donate to the shelter.
Update as of 6/5/12 - The trial of Mike Chilinski has now been rescheduled for October! See More Links below. Bob Sutherland, President of AMAL, released the following update:
"The trial for Mike Chilinski for over 90 counts of felony animal abuse has been re-scheduled again to October 15th. He has a new attorney and that might be the reason for the re-scheduling. This means the malamutes will have remained in the custodial care of the Lewis and Clark Humane Society for over a year.
I know it's frustrating to see this case be delayed several times now. Moonsong Malamute Rescue and AMAL will continue to visit with the malamutes and help with their care.
We will continue to send folks interested in adopting the Aluk malamutes to the nearest affiliate. We'll continue to gather names of folks who can help with transport and care of the malamutes.
Thank you for your support."
Update as of 4/18/12 - The May 2 court date for Mike Chilnski has been delayed due to Chilinski asking for the disqualification of the judge in the case. When we find out a new date for the trial we will post it here. See More Links below.
Update as of 5/24/12
"We've just completed another visit to Malamute Village, helping to tend to the malamutes under the guardianship of the LCHS. The malamutes are continuing to improve with the care of the staff at Malamute Village and approved volunteers.
We have been told the trial of Mike Chilinski is now tentatively scheduled for August 6th through the 10th in Boulder MT. After the trial the evidence from the seizure will be revealed and the shelter can start using volunteers to assist in the care of the malamutes.
We hope you, as AMAL affiliates, will be prepared to accept malamutes from this seizure and place them in homes where they will thrive. Here in Alaska we are pre-approving homes to quicken and smooth the process of re-homing the dogs.
I want to also thank you for your wisdom and support. Both have made our missions to help the malamutes easier. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me directly or respond to this email."
- A tentative date of August 6-10 has been scheduled for the trial of Mike Chlinski. Bob Sutherland, President of AMAL, released the following update:
Update as of 3/7/12 - Bob Sutherland, President of AMAL (Alaskan Malamute Assistance League), released the following update: "Moonsong Malamute Rescue and AMAL visited Project Malamute at the Lewis and Clark Humane Society. We signed confidentiality agreements so we can't discuss the details of the malamutes in their care.
We showed up, toured the kennels, then spoke with the kennel staff about malamutes. After lunch we started to interact with the malamutes, which continued to the next day. We were able to spend time with approximately 34 of the dogs while one of us spent the first day pouring through all of the individual intake sheets recorded during the initial rescue from the property so if the time comes we have an idea of what we need to transport and rehome the malamutes.
We spoke with 3 LCHS trainers and offered suggestions for further enrichment. It was a very productive couple of days for both us and the LCHS staff. The malamutes have an incredible, caring and loving staff."
Update as of 1/26/12 - The judge has ruled that the malamutes will remain in the care of the LCHS shelter until the May trial of Mike Chilinski. See
More Links below.
Update as of 1/21/12 - The trial on the criminal charges is not scheduled until May. The lawyers are still debating the intent of the judge's ruling of 12/1/11. See More Links below.
Update as of 12/16 - The County Attorney has filed a Motion for Reconsideration, asking the Judge to reconsider his ruling that Chilinski be allowed to place at least 70 of the Malamutes to other homes. HSUS has agreed to cover all costs of caring for the dogs at the Lewis and Clark Humane Society. See More Links below.
Update as of 12/1 - The judge has ruled that Mike can re-home up to 70 of his dogs himself. See More Links below.
Update as of 11/30 - Mike Chilinski testified at the hearing today. There is a short news article and also a short video of Mike testifying. See More Links below. More news should be published tomorrow.
Update as of 11/24 - The hearing was postponed again until 11/30. In the meantime an online petition has been developed "to prevent Mike Chilinski from getting his Malamutes back". Note: The petition was taken down after Mike Chilinski threatened to sue the author.
Update as of 11/17 - The shelter is still in need of financial donations to offset the costs of caring for the Mals. You can visit the the Lewis and Clark Humane Society's Project Malamute page for links to donate.
Update as of 11/9 - A hearing was held November 9th to discuss the dog's welfare. The hearing and testimony will continue on 11/23 in Boulder, MT. Please see the various updates made on the Lewis and Clark Humane Society's Project Malamute page and on their Facebook page. Also, check More Links area below for the latest news stories.
Update as of 10/31 - All the dogs have been moved off the shelter grounds to an undisclosed, safe and more spacious location. They continue to do well according to the shelter staff. Please see the various updates made on the shelter's Project Malamute page and on their Facebook page. Also, check More Links area below for the latest news stories.
Update as of 10/18 - The County Attorney has told the shelter that only shelter staff and HSUS personnel are allowed to work with the dogs, so they can't accept any outside volunteer help at this time.
Ashley is a lucky Aluk female who was one of the first to be adopted and her new name is Leia.
