[ SHOWGSD-L ] Hunte information
- From: Cyndy Davis <cyndyinseattle@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 26 Jan 2007 13:18:18 -0800
60 PUPPIES DIE IN FIRE ON HUNTE CORP. TRUCK On Monday, August 14, 2006, all 60
puppies inside a Hunte Corp. truck suffocated to death when the truck caught
fire. The drivers were uninjured. Hunte Corp. is a major supplier of PUPPY MILL
puppies to Petland and many other pet stores. Hunte is attempting to spin the
story as an advertisement, saying they are puppy lovers and that the puppies
"were all beautiful, healthy purebreds that were on their way to quality
retailers." The AP story that was widely distributed contained that quote
without a rebuttal. CNN's piece mentioned that the puppies came from
"commercial breeders" but did not explain that that means puppy mills. The
Boston Globe had one of the better stories. See links below.MSNBC:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14360161/from/ET/ Boston Globe:
Four_agencies_probe_truck_fire_that_killed_60_puppies/ Think this disaster was
just a fluke? Read about a similar incident from 2003, "Over 100 puppies found
in uncooled truck," about a truck on the way to a Just Puppies store in
Maryland. The trucking company is not named. The story is on our "In the News"
page. Hunte Corp. makes a big deal about the fact that its trucks are
air-conditioned. But remember, the part of the truck where the puppies are
caged has NO WINDOWS. The puppies would die in a very short period of time on a
hot summer day if there was no air conditioning. So Hunte is congratulating
itself for providing the puppies with AIR. How generous of them. The Hunte
Corporation and the pet stores it sells to are COMPLETELY RESPONSIBLE for the
horrible deaths of these baby animals. They should not have died because they
should never have been born. While healthy, wonderful dogs are exterminated by
the millions in shelters due to lack of homes, pet stores like Petland continue
to sell puppies as fast as they possibly can, making weekly orders from the
Hunte Corporation. Hunte puts these tiny, frightened, helpless, and fragile
puppies in cramped cages on its trucks and takes them on the bumpy, unhealthy
ride to pet stores up to 1,000 miles away. These puppies died quickly, but
their parents endure a lifetime of suffering as they spin, chew, dig, bark, and
finally give up all hope of escaping the misery of puppy
mills.*******************************The Hunte Corporation is currently the
largest puppy broker in the U.S. It is based in Goodman, Missouri. It buys
puppies from puppy mills in several Midwestern states and then sells them to
pet stores all over the country, including many Petlands. Breeders either drop
the puppies off at the Hunte building or a Hunte truck goes out to pick them
up. The puppies are checked over by Hunte employees. The breeders expect to
receive a certain price from Hunte depending on the breed of dog, but if Hunte
decides the puppies are not very healthy, they may offer the breeder less
money. The breeders usually accept the lower price, as they have no use for the
puppies. Hunte's "Grade A" puppies, the supposedly healthier ones, are sent to
pet stores. The "Grade B" puppies, the sicklier ones, are sold in other ways.
We understand that some are sold to people who sell dogs over the Internet or
through newspaper ads. Others were formerly sold at Missouri flea markets and
in Canada, but now they are apparently often ending up at the huge Canton Flea
Market in Texas, which sells dogs, cats and other animals by the hundreds. The
Canton Animal Shelter describes its situation as "urgent" (see
www.petfinder.org/shelters/TX256.html.) Puppies that are rejected by pet stores
and sent back to Hunte also fall into this "Grade B" category and are disposed
of in the same way.***** However, as you can see in the following article from
the Neosho Times, not all the puppies survive to be sold anywhere at all. One
place their dead bodies were recently dumped was a sludge pond, amidst trash
and sewage.In 2003, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) found
that the Hunte Corporation, puppy supplier for Petland and many other pet
stores, was in violation of the Clean Water and Solid Waste Management Law. At
a kennel owned by Hunte, dead puppies were being buried in trenches in a sludge
pond too close to the edge of the property, near a leaking septic tank and a
large pile of trash. While there was also a question of whether Hunte was
exceeding the legal limit of 1,000 pounds of dead animals per acre per year,
Hunte denied this, and a DNR inspector took their word for it. Hunte
veterinarian Kenton Beard said they would be building a crematorium to dispose
of the dead puppies, but we have heard that Beard has stopped working for Hunte
and the crematorium has not been built. See full article below. From the Neosho
Daily News, 11/25/03.Available from the newspaper's archives for a fee.Hunte
Violates DNR regulations By Michelle Pippin: Daily News staff writer The
Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) recently concluded an
investigation into property owned by the Hunte Corporation of Goodman.
Complaints were made to the DNR regarding animal graves and the possibility of
contaminated ponds at Sunrise Puppies, a kennel facility for the Hunte
Corporation located on Sorrel Road in Newton County. The investigation revealed
violations of the Missouri Clean Water and Solid Waste Management Law,
according to Camille Dobler with the DNR. "The main complaint concerned
disposal of dead animals," said Dobler. "Dead animals are currently buried in
trenches on the south edge of the property. The trenches are constructed
correctly but they need to be spread out across the property and the correct
setbacks maintained." The means of disposing of dead animals is regulated by
Missouri law and guidelines are set by the Geological Survey and Resource
Assessment Division. For the better part of southwest Missouri, the regulations
limit the burial to no more than 1000 pounds per acre per year. John Cupps,
animal health officer with the Missouri Department of Agriculture, the office
charged with monitoring the safety of animals throughout the state, has
conducted regular inspections of the Sunrise Puppies property for the past 5
1/2 years, including one in October following the complaints reported to the
DNR. "I checked their (Hunte Corporation's) records to see if they had exceeded
the amount (of deceased dogs) buried on one acre," said Cupps in his report.
"They hadn't exceeded the legal amount so they're in compliance with state
law." An earlier inspection of the property, conducted by Cupps on July 8,
2003, also indicated no violations to the dead animal burial guidelines. Cupps
explained that the Sunrise Puppies property had been unused by the Hunte
Corporation for 1 1/2 years up until this past summer. He said there were three
dog breeders in Southwest Missouri who lost their kennels in the May 4
tornados, and Andrew Hunte, owner of the Hunte Corporation, agreed to house the
animals at the Sorrel Road kennels. Hunte contacted Cupps, as required by law,
to inspect the property before the company began using the facility again for
animals, and in that July 8, on-site inspection, no non-compliance items were
identified." Dr. Kenton Beard, DVM with the Hunte Corporation, said although
the company is within the guidelines of animals (sic) burial, the Hunte
Corporation has been working toward changing is (sic) animal disposal from
burial to cremation. "Whether it's a facility for people or animals, where
there is health, there's sickness. Anywhere there's life, there's death and we
do lose dogs sometimes; it does happen," said Dr. Beard, "but we are well
within the guidelines set by the state. Nevertheless, we've been working to
change to cremation and the equipment should be delivered and set up for use by
the beginning of next month." Of concern to the DNR are two other areas of
violations found at the Sunrise Puppies property, a leaking septic line and a
solid waste dump. "The most severe problem observed at the time of the
investigation was the discharge of wastewater from the septic tank tile lines,"
said the DNR's Camille Dobler. "There was a break in the sewer line above the
septic tank and wastewater was also surfacing from the lateral lines below the
septic tanks. These discharges will drain into a tributary of Sugar Fork
Creek." "There was a large pile of household, demolition and trade waste, as
well as some appliances in an area near the animal burial site," she continued.
Specifically, the DNR investigation report indicated the dump site,
approximately 30 feet by 8 feet, and 4 feet high, contains household waste,
demolition waste, appliances including washer, dryer and water heater, empty
drums and PVC piping. Dr. Beard, with Hunte Corporation, said the solid waste
dump site was derived by some construction workers in the area utilizing the
space as a dump site, without the knowledge of the Hunte Corporation, and that
it is being cleaned up. As for the broken septic line, he said it was recently
and accidentally run over by a truck and incidentally broken. The company is
working to fix that problem immediately as well. The DNR told the Hunte
Corporation it had 30 days to remove the solid waste items from the property
and have them disposed of elsewhere as regulated by the Solid Waste Management
Laws, and 45 days to submit a plan for correcting the wastewater runoff.
Coupled with the corporation's pre-established intention to change its
practices of deceased animal disposal to a method more environmentally
friendly, Dr. Beard said all of the DNR's issues will be addressed and
corrected before the deadlines. [End of article]Note: We understand that Dr.
Beard no longer works for Hunte and that a crematorium has not been built.*****
Many stores under fire for selling sick puppies obtain the puppies from the
Hunte Corporation. Here is a recent article from Channel 4 News in Reno,
Nevada. RENO More complaints about sick animals coming from Reno puppy store
Jul 7, 2005, 12:23 PMAs soon as News 4 ran a story on sick animals being sold
at a Reno pet store phones in the newsroom started ringing. More people coming
forward, claiming they were sold unhealthy dogs from the Reno Puppy Patch.Since
our first story aired, eight more people have come forward voicing complaints
about the quality of the animals being sold at the store at Fourth Street and
Keystone Avenue. Tyler Copeland was one of those customers. He says something
needs to be done in order to keep more people from suffering like he has. "I
want to see the store shut down, I don't want to see them sell sick dogs to
people. I don't want to see people have the same problem I had, it's not
something fun to go through." Customers say their dogs needed expensive vet
treatments and their registrations were suspicious. But, it may not have
anything to do with how the dogs are being treated at the pet store. Washoe
County Regional Animal Services has been called out to the Puppy Patch three
times since January, and every time they found nothing wrong. They say all the
animals there were properly fed watered and sheltered, and that's the only
things they check for. But breeder Karen Stark says that doesn't mean something
isn't wrong with the dogs that the Puppy Patch sells. "The Hunte Corporation
has been associated with lots of problems, just ask almost any breeder who
actually is ethical, and they'll tell you they have a lot of problems." The
Hunte Corporation is listed as the point of origin for most of the puppies
brought to our attention [emphasis ours]. Papers shown to us by Puppy Patch
customers list the Hunte Corporation's address in Missouri.Stark says the
business has a poor reputation well beyond the Show Me State's borders.
"They're known to take puppies from puppy mills and sell them through pet
shops." Neither Washoe County Animal Services, nor the Nevada Humane Society,
which have received at least eight complaints on the Puppy Patch, can prevent
the sale of dogs suspected of coming from puppy mills. The Hunte Corporation
would not return News 4's phone calls and representatives of the Puppy Patch
refused our requests for interviews. Agnes Benis is the president of the Reno
chapter of the American Kennel Club she says that the responsibility falls on
the consumer. "Defiantly (sic) buyer beware, if you are sold a puppy and they
have registered papers please look at those papers, make sure they have the AKC
seal on those papers. Often people get excited and they get home and realize
they aren't AKC registered." In fact the dogs sold to many of the Puppy Patch
customers we talked with are registered through organizations such as Panabar,
or The American Pet Registry, neither of which, have as stringent regulations
of the AKC. And breeder Elizabeth Wise says even AKC pedigrees may not be what
they seem. "Pedigrees can be manufactured and so if you ask a pet shop for a
pedigree it may or may not be the legitimate pedigree."But for customers like
Copeland, pedigreed or not, he just wants someone to be accountable. That's why
he showed up at The Puppy Patch to pick up a check to help pay for half of his
vet bills, $208 he feels he received for ulterior motives. "The only reason
he's probably doing this is he thought you guys were coming and he thought it
would make him look better, even though he was trying to fight me two hours
ago." Breeders offer this tip to prospective puppy purchasers. "First of all I
would recommend that the people not buy from the puppy shops, from the pet
shops or from the newspaper. Legitimate breeders do not use those venues to
sell their puppies." If you want to know where to go to buy a dog you can log
onto the AKC website, there you will find a list of certified breeders. [End of
article]Note: The AKC makes millions of dollars a year by registering dogs,
including many from puppy mills. It takes the breeders' word for it that the
information they provide is correct, and many times this information is false.
In its 2000 investigation, Dateline NBC easily obtained AKC dog registration
papers for deceased animals and cats. ***** Other information about Hunte:In
the 1990s, an employee of the breeder Do-Bo-Tri, which sold puppies to Hunte,
was convicted of animal cruelty after an incident in Pennsylvania WHILE EN
ROUTE TO A PETLAND STORE (see article below: "Purdy, Mo., Animals Dealers Face
USDA Animal Welfare Charges"). In the year 2000, Do-Bo-Tri was transporting 147
dogs and got into an accident (see second article below: "Kennel, Owner fined
$17,500 over puppies left in hot truck"). The driver went to the hospital and
left the puppies unattended in the truck. The coolers in the truck went off,
and four puppies died. The local humane society was called and saved the
remainder of dogs. Rather than distancing itself from Do-Bo-Tri, Hunte Corp.
bought it. At a USDA hearing, Do-Bo-Tri kennel owner Doug Hughes (the "Do" of
Do-Bo-Tri), was prohibited from working for a dog dealer in a supervisory
position because of this incident. However, he was soon hired by Hunte as a
Director of Breeder Support, a supervisory position. At a September 3, 2003,
meeting, the Hunte Corp. announced that Doug Hughes had been promoted to the
position of Vice President of Breeder Support. The USDA took no action against
him.Articles from www.puppymillfighters.com. PURDY, MO., ANIMAL DEALERS FACE
USDA ANIMAL WELFARE CHARGES Cynthia A. Eck (301) 734-5931Ed Curlett (301)
734-3256 RIVERDALE, Md., July 17, 1995--The U.S. Department of Agriculture
recently charged animal dealers Jim and Sue Hughes, doing business as Do-Bo-Tri
Kennels of Purdy, Mo., with violations of the Animal Welfare Act. The USDA
complaint was issued June 6. Dale F. Schwindaman, deputy administrator for
regulatory enforcement and animal care in USDA's Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service, said the charges against the Hughes and Do-Bo-Tri Kennels
are based on APHIS inspections. APHIS inspectors found that on or about Feb. 5,
1992, the Hughes transported live animals (66 dogs, 4 chinchillas, 11 rabbits,
44 hamsters and 8 guinea pigs) to Petland Pet Shop [emphasis ours], Pittsburgh,
Pa., and willfully violated the Act by failing to: --provide records that
demonstrate adequate veterinary care for animals and establish and maintain a
program of adequate veterinary care for animals; --identify animals as
required; --ship animals with the required records to accompany the shipment;
--transport dogs with health certificates; --provide dogs transported in
primary enclosures with enough space to allow the animals to stand and sit
erect; --transport dogs of comparable size in the same primary enclosure;
--properly attach required shipment documents to the primary dog enclosures;
--transport dogs, guinea pigs, rabbits, and chinchillas in an animal cargo
space of a primary conveyance that was maintained in a manner that at all times
protected the health and well-being of the animals transported in them and
ensured their safety and comfort; --offer food and potable water to puppies as
required; --give guinea pigs access to clean water as required; --ensure that
the operator of the vehicle or the person accompanying the operator observed
the animals at least once every four hours to determine whether the animals
were in physical distress; --ensure that the operator of the vehicle or the
person accompanying the operator obtained veterinary care for animals in need;
and --avoid transporting dogs that were obviously ill or in physical distress.
APHIS inspectors conduct inspections of animal dealers to ensure compliance
with the Act. Any violations that inspectors find can lead to suspension and/or
civil penalties. The AWA requires that regulated individuals and businesses
provide animals with care and treatment according to standards established by
APHIS. The standards include requirements for recordkeeping, adequate housing,
sanitation, food, water, transportation, exercise for dogs, veterinary care,
and shelter. The law regulates the care of animals that are sold as pets at the
wholesale level, transported in commerce, used for biomedical research, and
used for exhibition purposes. Kennel, Owner fined $17,500 over puppies left in
hot truckBy WARREN DUZAK Staff Writer Thursday, 01/17/02 A Missouri kennel that
left 147 puppies in a sweltering truck trailer here two years ago, prompting an
outpouring of anger and concern in the Midstate, has been fined $7,500 by the
U.S. Department of Agriculture. The kennel's owner, Douglas Alan Hughes, was
also fined $10,000, and had his federal animal welfare license revoked for five
years, USDA documents show. Do Bo Tri Kennels of Purdy, Mo., was cited for more
than 30 violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act in caring for the dogs,
which were being transported to pet stores in several states. A woman at the Do
Bo Tri Kennel said yesterday that she would tell the kennel owner about a
request for an interview, but Hughes did not return the call. Metro Animal
Services Director Judy Ladebauche said she considered the fine ''minimal'' and
had hoped for a stiffer penalty against the owner. The puppies were in the
truck without air conditioning while it awaited repairs in a local repair shop
on a summer day. Workers at the shop reported the conditions to Metro
officials, who removed the animals and were later given custody in an
out-of-court settlement with Do Bo Tri. ''I would like to have seen a permanent
revocation of his license,'' Ladebauche said. Kennel officials said at the time
that the puppies, a variety of breeds, were well cared for and that the truck's
air conditioning had been shut off accidentally. The Agriculture Department
painted a different picture of the puppies' overall treatment, USDA documents
from last year show. The 32 violations included failure to provide the animals
with adequate space, food and water, and veterinary care, besides keeping the
animals in the over-heated truck. Four of the animals had died from either heat
or disease by the time the others were placed for adoption. Hundreds of people
lined up seeking to adopt the puppies from Metro, and only one was ever
returned, Ladebauche said. ''The rest of them are doing well.'' Warren Duzak is
a reporter for The Tennessean. He can be reached at 726-5939 or
wduzak@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx *****
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