Fox Files: Rescue Dog Operation
Hopefully by spring I’m going to have 8 indoor outdoor, for big dogs. State inspectors cited this place 15 months ago for “accumulation of urine, feces and hair on the floor” and lack of outside shelter where “8 beagles only had 2 igloo dog houses.”
That’s when it used to be called “Sunset Kennel,” run by breeder Ovella Lange, who supplied a chain of mall stores called “Pampered Pets”
Then last February, Lange forfeited her breeder license to the Missouri Department of Agriculture and agreed to auction off her nearly 300 dogs.
But here, we are at the same address, talking to Lang’s son Ryan Rumfelt, who says he’s a dog rescue.
November you just started rescuing dogs?
Search for Rumfelt on Facebook and you’ll see his page for the Pampered Pets stores. They’re all closed now.
By phone he told us to look up his non-profit called ‘Seeking Furever Homes.’ It’s on a web site called ‘adopt a pet.’
One of the photos even shows his mom, Lange, holding a dog. 7 of the 9 dogs available are puppies.
We asked the St. Charles 5 Acres Animal Shelter about that.
Kim brown did not make a judgment about Rumfelt, but she said Rumfelt should explain how he has so many puppies.
And only 2 of those puppies were mixes everything else was as tea cup yorkie or a miniature dachshund I’ve been doing rescue work for 8 years and I can count on one hand the number of times we’ve had pure bred litters of small toy breeds.
Rumfelt would only follow up with us by phone. He said he’s doing the right thing and that state inspectors just came out and found no problems.
He said the state inspects him just as it would a breeder. He insists he only rescues and says his prices reflect that. $150 for most dogs, with $50 refunded after a spay or neuter.
The teacup yorkie he prices at $300, with $50 refundable. The price of a dog is something else rescue groups say you should question.
Most rescues they want their dogs and cats to find homes quickly. We don’t want them staying in a shelter for months and months and $175 is a pretty normal amount to pay.
What do state inspectors have to say about a former breeder location, becoming a rescue? According to the Missouri Department of Agriculture, Ovella Lang is the one prohibited from having a license to house animals. But nothing says her relative can’t even if it’s on the same property.
The recent state inspection cited Rumfelt for failing to prove his adopted dogs are being spayed and neutered after he sells them.
We’ll stay on top of future inspections to see what develops.
For the Fox Files, I’m Chris Hayes.
Read previous story on Former Dog Breeding Site Registers as a “Rescue”.
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