HSUS List of 101 Problemed Puppy Mills Across The United States: Targeting the Kansas Puppy Mills

KANSAS

• Dorothy Brecheisen, Dot’s Little Doggies, Inc. Lyndon, KS – Dogs repeatedly found exposed to frigid weather. Dot’s has had violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act for four years in a row. Repeat violations in March 2013 included numerous dogs in need of veterinary care, including dogs with eye discharge, matted fur, hair loss, an “abnormal growth” and dental problems. Additional repeat violations included unsafe housing, dirty conditions, and 36 dogs outside in temperatures of 25.8 degrees (F) without adequate bedding or protection from the cold. Repeat violations in November 2012 included dogs with eye problems and one dog who appeared to have such severe dental disease that she could no longer hold her tongue in her mouth. Similar issues were documented in 2011 as well. In March 2014, the USDA documented almost 400 dogs and puppies at Dot’s Little Doggies. USDA #48-A-1755.
  
• Mary Carpenter, Blue Moon Kennels, Melvern, KS – Sixty pages of USDA violations. Between January 2011 and January 2014, Blue Moon Kennels was cited for no less than 60 pages of USDA violations, including a Direct Noncompliance in August 2013 for dogs with eye problems, hair loss, scabs and wounds. Repeat violations in December 2012 included numerous dogs needing vet care, including thin dogs, limping dogs and dogs with a host of other problems. The USDA gave Blue Moon Kennels an official warning in January 2012 for 11 different problems, including a “repeated failure to provide adequate veterinary care,” a repeated failure to correct safety and housing issues and other problems. USDA #48-B-0302.
  
• Roxanne Castens, Ludell, KS – Dogs with sores, hair loss and filthy water. In August 2013, Castens was given an official warning by the USDA for failing to maintain an adequate program of veterinary care for her animals. In July 2013, Castens was cited for having four dogs in need of veterinary care, including two Huskies with scabs and hair loss and two dogs with signs of severe dental disease, and an additional ten other violations of the Animal Welfare Act, including dogs standing on wet, muddy floors with no dry area to stand on, dogs with greenish and brownish water, and dog food that was wet and deteriorating. The documented violations at this facility would probably be even longer, except that Castens more often than not does not give federal inspectors access to the property as required by law. In April 2013, The USDA gave Castens an official warning for repeated failure to make someone available to accompany an official for the inspection process. Even after the official warning, Castens for the sixth and seventh times failed to make the facility available for an inspection in January 2014 and again in February 2014. USDA #48-A-1628.
  
• Pat Crabtree, Crabtree Kennel, St. Francis, KS – Wounded dogs and repeat violations. During several different visits to Crabtree Kennel in 2013, USDA inspectors found a host of repeat violations and several dogs in need of veterinary care, including a Yorkie with a swollen abscess on her face, a Yorkie with such advanced dental issues that the roots of his teeth were exposed and he could no longer keep his tongue in his mouth, two dogs who were lame or limping and several dogs with badly matted fur. When inspectors returned to check on the kennel on February 12, 2014, there was no one available to give them access to check on conditions, which is a violation. The USDA documented almost 300 dogs and puppies at the facility during a recent inspection. Consumer complaints about sick puppies have also been reported on websites such as ripoffreport.com and complaintsboard.com. USDA #48-A-1641.
  
• Shauna Engelken, Grandview Kennel, Seneca, KS – Years of problems under USDA license; failed state inspection. After being cited for serious animal care violations by the USDA for three years in a row, Engelken’s USDA license was cancelled for unknown reasons in June 2013. But Kansas public records show that Engelken then applied for a Kansas state license as a “retail breeder” in September 2013. Engelken failed her state pre-license inspection due to eight different issues, including “numerous dogs with toe/foot injuries, due to overgrown toenails getting caught in flooring,” two Huskies with puncture wounds, housing structures so decrepit that some of the flooring seemed about to collapse, “large puddles of stagnant green water” under the raised enclosures and an “excessive build-up of feces” throughout the facility. Former USDA #48-A-1496.

• Irene Finley, Herington, KS – Failed to correct safety issue after five citations. In May 2013, a USDA veterinary medical officer found a German shepherd dog with a “pink, moist” wound behind his ear and a “thick, creamy discharge” oozing from his ear that hadn’t been treated. The licensee was warned during five different inspections over a two-year period about sharp points and edges that could injure the dogs, but federal inspection reports show she did not correct the problem (August 2012, Nov. 2012, May 2013, February 2013, Nov. 2013). Some of the sharp points were noted more than once in the enclosure housing a German shepherd dog, possibly the same dog found in May 2013 with the injury. Inspectors also noted dirty water and rusty water receptacles (Nov. 2012), dirty conditions, and other problems. In April 2013, The USDA gave Finley an official warning for a repeated failure to maintain surfaces free of rust and a repeated failure to correct the sharp points and edges that “could injure the animals.” USDA #48-A-1460/7739.
  
• Shelli Kershner, Walnut Creek Kennel, Rush Center, KS – Received official warning from USDA. In August 2013, The USDA gave Kershner an official warning for a repeated failure to provide adequate veterinary care and a repeated failure to provide safe housing for her breeding dogs. But even after this warning, in October 2013, a USDA inspector found a shih-tzu with her eye crusted shut and a “pink, fleshy protrusion” in the center of the eye. There was another incident earlier in the year when a dog was found with “long toenails and reddened, bloody gums.” In August 2012, the USDA found 109 dogs at the kennel when its official records listed only 64, indicating that this B dealer was getting dogs from undocumented sources, which could include unlicensed puppy mills. When the USDA returned in February 2014 to check on the kennel, they were not given access, which is a violation. USDA # 48-B- 0311.
  
• Michelle Miller, Plum Crazy Kennel, Elk City, KS – Six dogs in need of veterinary care; received warning from state. Plum Crazy Kennel, a breeder of at least nine different breeds including chows, bulldogs and cocker spaniels, received a warning letter from the Kansas Animal Health Department in December 2013 for failing two consecutive inspections. Eight different noncompliant items were found in a January 2013 inspection, and five of them had still not been corrected as of December 2013. Issues found included filthy conditions, dogs housed in rusty cages and standing on uncoated wire flooring that could hurt their feet, dogs without enough protection from the cold and wind and six dogs in need of veterinary care, including some who were underweight with prominent hip bones and ribs. Lic # CB000U5L.
  
• Peggy Pierce, Pierce’s Kennels, Narka, KS – Dogs with hair loss and scabs, crawling with fleas; failed six consecutive USDA inspections. Between April 2011 and March 2014, Pierce’s Kennels failed six consecutive USDA inspections. USDA inspectors found multiple issues at each visit, including dogs with hair loss and scabs who were crawling with fleas (September 2013), medication kept for use on the dogs which had expired almost five years earlier (March 2014), unsafe housing, unclean food and water, unsanitary conditions and dogs and puppies who did not have enough protection from the cold when the overnight temperatures had been as low as 27 degrees. When the USDA returned to the kennels in December 2013 to check on conditions, they were unable to access the premises, which is a violation. USDA # 48-B-0273.
  
• Wayne and Yvonne Sellin, Sellin Kennel, Chapman, KS – Official USDA warning for failure to provide adequate veterinary care. In February 2014, The USDA gave the Sellins an official warning for a repeated failure to provide adequate veterinary care and a repeated failure to make the premises available for inspection. Issues included dogs with signs of dental disease, including one whose jaw was apparently broken or had disintegrated to the point that it was positioned at an odd angle and moved “freely from side to side.” Other violations noted included excessive feces and unsafe housing. USDA #48-A-0388.
  
• Marilyn Soukup, Wilson, KS – Puppies in temperatures below freezing. Since March 2011, this facility has failed seven times to give access to USDA inspectors as required by law. On the occasions that inspectors were able to access the facility between 2011 and 2014, Soukup was cited at every inspection for multiple violations of the Animal Welfare Act (Jan. 2014, Oct. 2013, Sept. 2012, May 2012, Sept. 2011, and March 2011). In January 2014, USDA inspectors found below-freezing temperatures in the
  

• Shayne Turner, aka David or Michael, Rock Creek Kennel, DBA Clover Acres Farm, Kansas City, KS – Unlicensed kennel with a history. In March 2014, The HSUS received a complaint about a sick puppy sold online by Clover Acres Farm in Kansas City, KS, which does not appear to have a state or federal license, despite offering multiple breeds of puppies for sale online, and has an F rating with the local Better Business Bureau. The recent complaint alleged that Clover Acres had sold a sick puppy via puppyfind.com, a classified ad site that is often linked to puppy mills. On another website, rock-creek- kennel.com, which uses the same phone number as Clover Acres Farm, the operator offers to ship puppies sight-unseen to buyers anywhere in the contiguous U.S. This would require him to have a federal license, but The HSUS could also find no record of a license. The owner of Clover Acres Kennel aka Rock Creek Kennel appears to have a history of operating problematic or unlicensed kennels. In May 2012, Shayne Turner, currently the owner of Rock Creek aka Clover Acres, and a registered sex offender named Harold “Buzz” Powell, invoked the ire of Miami County residents for operating an unpermitted breeding operation called Bully Farms Kennel. Bully Farms had drawn attention due to neighbors’ complaints about odor and noise: graphic-online.com/news/article_98cae498-1339-5089-a518- 8e9ca15eadbc.html.
  Both Turner and Powell have been linked to problem kennels under a number of different aliases and in different states. Harold “Buzz” Powell is currently living in Iowa, according to the sex offender registry, but he has also lived near Turner in Kansas. In Wyoming, Iowa, 65 dogs were removed from Powell’s Thunder Ridge Kennel in March 2010. A judge later allowed most of the animals to be returned to Powell, but 15 were retained on suspicion of mistreatment. The charges were later dismissed. Powell, however, has been in trouble with the law numerous times for a variety of offenses. It appears Powell later moved to Kansas, according to the sex offender registries, and then back to Iowa. A Kansas animal welfare inspection report from January 2013 shows that Powell was suspected of operating an unlicensed puppy mill in Kansas City, but that when inspectors arrived he had been evicted, leaving behind “evidence that animals had been housed in the garage.” The HSUS contacted the Kansas Department of Agriculture in March 2014 regarding the new complaint, and the Department reported that neither Turner nor Powell is licensed to operate a dog breeding kennel in Kansas as of March 2014. The Rock Creek Kennel website, however, is still active.
  
• Darryl and Larry Wilson, D & L Kennels, El Dorado, KS – Dogs exposed to below-freezing cold. The USDA gave D & L Kennels an official warning in February 2014 for dogs without bedding in freezing temperatures. In December 2013, USDA inspectors found 41 dogs in outdoor enclosures at this kennel who didn’t have enough protection from the frigid cold when the temperatures were only 17.5 degrees Fahrenheit. In 2013, USDA inspectors found violations at this kennel during four different visits, including severely matted dogs, unsafe housing and dirty conditions. USDA #48-B-0276.