Harsh Reality of Pennsylvania Puppy Mills
Thanks to Chiris Krewson for letting us know about this strong article from The Morning Call about puppy mills in Pennsylvania! Big barks and howls for the investigative journalists at The Morning Call!
More happy barks for The Morning Call’s new database on Pensylvania puppy mills! As Chris mentions, you can help others learn more about the evils of puppy mills by actually including a link on your blog or site to the extensive database.
Chris Krewson wrote:
Hello. On Sunday my newspaper (The Morning Call, Allentown) is running a major investigative story on Pennsylvania’s reputation as the puppy mill capitol of the East Coast. To do that, we used the state’s Right to Know Law and obtained 20,000 inspection reports, and assembled them into a database.Today we launched that database on our Web site for users to search, days before the story’s running. We’re also encouraging Web site owners and bloggers to embed our search widget on your pages in the same way YouTube lets people embed videos on their pages or blogs.
Please drop us a line if you wind up using our code. Thanks!
Who’s watching out for me?Puppies put in peril by dog wardens with limited power, a flawed state reporting system and lax enforcement.
By Tim Darragh and Christopher Schnaars Of The Morning CallPuppy breeding and boarding kennels throughout Pennsylvania have been virtually assured of passing grades from state regulators even with feces-filled living areas, cramped cages, dirty water bowls and diseased or dead dogs, according to an investigation by The Morning Call based on a first-ever analysis of 20,000 state inspection records.
Dog wardens are charged with protecting puppies. But the analysis of kennel inspection records from 2003-2006 shows the wardens have been the kennel owners’ best friend.
Kennels received perfect ratings — no violations in the 26 categories inspected by wardens on each visit — more than nine times out of 10 during that time, the newspaper’s analysis of the state’s computerized records showed.
This record of perfection flabbergasts animal welfare organizations, including the Humane Society of the United States and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which have long criticized Pennsylvania for allowing substandard kennels and puppy mills to operate.
The newspaper’s finding “sort of verifies in a very strong way what we’ve been complaining about for years,” said Bob Baker, a national ASPCA investigator. “I don’t think even the harshest critics would have thought” nine out of 10 inspections would be perfect. “It shows [the lack of enforcement] is even worse than what we thought.”
To fix the problem, the state Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement would have to know it existed. Until The Morning Call demanded kennel inspection records, the bureau had no idea how to analyze its own data. It took the newspaper three months to get the state database of inspections using the state public records law.
Even then, bureau officials mistakenly believed their computer system could only provide inspection records one at a time. The state’s ignorance of its own system’s capabilities prevented officials from analyzing records in a way that would have revealed troubling patterns among kennels.
The Morning Call assembled the records in its own database and completed an analysis that presented the accurate picture of the state’s kennel inspection system. [To view the inspection records for your kennel, visit www.mcall.com/dogs.]
A technical flaw also became apparent during the analysis: The state’s computer software inadvertently cut off wording in the narratives of hundreds of inspections, leaving some of the most critical information off the electronic record.
In addition to the nonexistent analysis of records, the bureau’s practices set its mission up for failure. Its unofficial policy tilted toward instructing kennel owners on how to comply with the law rather than issuing citations or closing kennels. That left hundreds of kennels with violations marked on their inspections still scoring an overall “satisfactory” grade for the inspection.
The bureau also tacitly permitted incomplete inspections by allowing wardens to file reports even when they were unable to go inside a kennel. That practice, along with the unofficial policy to educate rather than cite kennel owners, has been curtailed, officials said.
Finally, existing laws hampered more-effective enforcement, since state law allows only police and humane officers to file cruelty charges. So the one group allowed to enter a kennel without a warrant — dog wardens — has no authority to file cruelty charges even if wardens witness mistreatment.
Also in the mix are wardens’ other duties, including chasing strays, checking on licensing and enforcing dangerous-dog laws.
A need to get tough
All of the above can translate into misery for the animals and heartache for their prospective owners. Consider the case of Long Lane Kennel. Dog warden Richard Hess cited the Narvon, Lancaster County, kennel twice after a March 15, 2006, visit, but gave it a satisfactory grade. It was Long Lane’s 10th consecutive satisfactory inspection by Hess.
Before the year’s end, however, other inspectors and a Humane League of Lancaster County cruelty investigator found conditions so horrible at Long Lane they seized 23 dogs, with one so sick it had to be euthanized. The kennel had a broken heater, exposed wires, chewed wood and feces throughout the structure, according to an affidavit of probable cause. Charges against the kennel are pending.
In another case, a dog warden found two dead puppies and other violations at Rocklane Kennel in Martinsburg, Bedford County, about 18 months ago. Rather than pull the kennel’s license the warden issued six summary fines. The state took three months to do a follow-up inspection, after which it licensed Rocklane for another year.
Follow this link to read the rest of the article, watch the video and see more information.
None of the links work.
Thank you Chiris Krewson and Joy for this great information! We’re Pennsylvania Dogsters and the database that has been created is extremely informative.
Nice blog. Keep up the good work.
Apollo and Ares,
All the links should be working now.
Nice blog! Keep up the good work!We are currently fighting against two pets tores that sell dogs and the owners are also hoarders…very difficult to fight but we slog on!Wewill definatly use the article at the next township meeting
Amanda and Ecco.
All the best to you in your fight! Please bark back in and let us know how it goes!
We’re crossing our paws that you will get these stores closed down!
I do not recommend Kenmar Kennels in Apollo, PA. They lost my dog and did not tell me about it from 9:00a to 4:00p and it was too late. There have been several complaints about this horse and dog kennel and these poor animals cannot speak for themselves. Kenmar is not animal friendly and it is some employees fault yet I believe it is Ken or Marlene Dean who should be responsible for the mismanagement of this kennel and horse stable. They are the elderly owners that don’t care anymore about the abuse the animals suffer and the young kids that work there, are not trained nor care.
I reccomend Ken-Mar kennels highly. They are knowlegable, friendly people that love animals. The provious person has an axe to grind, as the posts on other sites state the dog mentioned belonged to “someone”. His dog was loose, and the dog catcher got involved somehow. I contacted Ken-Mar, and they have no idea who this person is. They do not have young people looking after the animals. and personally handle all the care themselves.
They would never abuse an animal, or I would never allow my two babies to be boarded there.
There prices are resonable, the facilities are clean, and they follow all State laws. They are not a puppy mill, and do not raise dogs and cats at all.
Someone is shooting at their horses, maybe it is Jimmy Ross.
Let me jus say thank you to anyone who is defending kenmar farms! That jus so happens to be a family member of mine and i have this to say. . . we take of our animals, i grew up there and i still go there everyday and my horses are there the farm is clean and we DO NOT ABUSE OUR ANIMALS! Im a team penner and a barrel racer their is NO WAY i could do both of those if my horses where underweight and abused! I jus bought a rescue horse and ive had him a mounth @ the farm and he already looks 100times better, our boarders are happy and the animals get fed twice daily a very wealthy amount and sum are a lil skinny but not HORRIBLY most of them are OLD and are losing teeth thats the nature of the beast and they get a great deal of attention and we meet law standers!
The kennel is clean we do it EVERYDAY! We havent had a single complaint from any of the dog law officers that come and we have been given many WHO’S WHO awards they hang in house on the wall in the main room! We feed in the morning and they get to run in and out as they please unless it rains and we go let them out several times a day. We have good fencing and we have had maybe a total of 3 dogs get out b/c they have chewed threw the fence!
If the facilities are as bad as made out to and we so called abuse our animals . . . WHY would we have SEVERAL STATE TROOPERS AND LOCAL COPS BRING THEIR DOGS TO THE KENNEL!?!?
answer this for me. . .
And NO we R NOT a puppy mill and we USED TO raise great danes and pugs YEARS AGO that was before i was born! And yes the neighbor down the hill shoots @ our horses daily and it IS NOT SAFE CONSIDERING my baby sister who is 9 years of age goes down in that field everyday to get her horse and my baby cousin who is jus 1 goes w/ me to get mine daily and let me tell you this is getting out of hand b/c i was in the feild 1day when he shoot and i was worried for my life.
The farm is a family place we are family ownd by my grandparents and my cousins live right on the property w/ a baby boy do you really think theyd live there is it wasnt family / kid safe?!
THANK YOU TO ANYONE IN DEFENCE OF OUR HOME!
ps. thank you to john duncan ur correct maybe it is jimmy ross
Kenmar is a wonderful place. Jimmy Ross is using the internet sites to trash Kenmar, and it’s wonderful owners. He has NEVER boarded a dog at Kenmar,that story is a LIE! I keep not only my H/J showhorses there, but my dogs as well.
Mr Ross is commiting LIBEL, and his comments should be removed from this site, and every other one he is using to run these very fine people down.
No animal is abused at Kenmar, what sort of person makes these sorts of henious accusations!
Shame on you Mr Ross, Ken and Marleen are FINE people who run an excellent place.
As far as qualified people with proper training who handle the horses at Kenmar goes….
I know for a fact, there is an A rated, USPC, BHS TC, Grad of U of Penn,who works with the Kenmar horses and their students, and boards there. Along with two nurses.
A horse was just sold last year, to a local Police Woman. She is very pleased with her horse, and the treatment she and her horse recived at Kenmar.
State Troopers and local Police board their dogs there. The kennel is clean, well kept and complient with State and Local Law.
The Kennel Inspector gives this Kennel it’s lisc and a clean bill.
There are State regulations Kennels must comply with to be lisced, and Kenmar not only meets, but excedes them all.
Please remove Mr Ross’s posts, just google his name and Apollo PA, and you will see, he is telling his lies all over the net.
He has NEVER boarded his dog at Kenmar.
The fact that his statement stands on a site dedicated to puppy mills and the horror they represent to the State of PA, just goes to show the total lack of character this man has.
He is just out to run a lovley, elderly couple, who love dogs and horses, and have made this their life time work, into the ground.
Come see Kenmar Kennels for yourself, you will see what a lovley place it is, it speaks for itself.