ELYRIA — An animal rescue volunteer at the Lorain County Dog Kennel has been asked not to return to the pound while county officials investigate allegations she berated the operator of a nonprofit dog rescue organization on Tues­day while he was there picking up dogs.

Mike Luli, who with his wife, Crystal Luli, operates Ohio Pet Placement and The Animal House pet store at Midway Mall, appeared before the county commissioners at their Wednesday meeting to com­plain about volunteer Carol Brailer. Mike Luli said he is considering suing Brailer for the disparaging remarks he said she made to him and oth­ers about his organization.

During Tuesday’s encounter, Luli said he and his wife had gone to the kennel to pick up some dogs they planned to adopt out through Ohio Pet Placement.

Luli said while his wife was in the back putting a leash on a dog, he went back into the lobby and heard Brailer telling the receptionist that “I can’t believe you are going to let those people take dogs from here.”

Brailer then turned and told him that she would never go into his store and when he replied that he was dealing with the pound instead of her, she replied that “you are not a legitimate pet rescue, I can’t believe they let you have ani­mals from here.” Luli said after he told her she didn’t have the right to talk to him that way, she “stormed” over to him and began yelling in his face. When he and his wife tried to leave without the dog they had come to pick up, the receptionist asked them to wait for county Dog Warden Jack Szlempa Sr. to return.

Szlempa arrived a short time later and apologized and asked the Lulis to take the dogs. Luli said while his wife talked with Szlempa, he returned to the lobby to do paperwork and heard Brailer asking whether he and his wife had left. When the receptionist told her not to speak ill of the organization, Brailer reportedly replied “they are not a legitimate rescue; it’s a scam.”

Luli said he told Brailer that she was slandering him and his organization and she “again stormed toward me, getting in my face, telling me that we mistreated the animals.”

“She was so close spittle from her mouth was hitting me in the face,” Luli said, adding that he told her he and his wife take their dogs to a veterinarian every two weeks and exercise them four times a day.

Luli said that Brailer also had complained about his group when he was at the pound May 25 and asked to take a poodle that was sitting in a cage there.

Brailer could not be reached for comment Wednesday, but county Commissioner Lori Kokoski apologized to the Lulis. She said later there was no excuse for Brailer’s behavior and that the county already is working on a set of policies that dictate the behavior of volunteers at the pound.

Crystal Luli said she believes Brailer has a problem with the prices Ohio Pet Placement charges for adoptions, but she said those fees go toward spaying, neutering and other veterinary bills that totaled $100,000 last year.

“They think we should just turn over these puppies at $50 a pop, but it’s just not feasible,” she said.

Mike Luli said the whole reason he and his wife opened the pet store in the mall was to help pay for their animal rescue efforts. Last year, he said, they placed around 1,000 dogs.

Szlempa and Assistant County Administrator Ron Twining both declined to comment on the status of the investigation.

Twining said the investigation had been launched even before Luli came to the meeting.

Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.

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