Feds Find Severe Neglect, Transmissible Disease at Local Puppy Mill

Dogs Denied Needed Veterinary Care for Months, Kept in Filth; PETA Asks Public Never to Buy Animals or Shop at Stores That Sell Them

For Immediate Release:
May 4, 2020

Contact:
Nicole Meyer 202-483-7382

Newly released U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspection reports of local puppy mill Anderson’s Yorkies and Toy Poodles reveal horrific conditions and neglect, including that 28 dogs were denied veterinary or other basic care—two of them were denied care for at least seven months. In addition, all of the facility’s puppies had giardia, a parasite that can be passed to humans and cause diarrhea, cramping, and dehydration.

Between April 2019 and February 2020, federal inspectors documented dozens of dogs whose teeth were covered with thick tartar—some cases were so severe that their teeth “were difficult to identify” and/or nearly falling out of their gums—and/or whose fur was severely matted, in some cases, with what appeared to be feces. Ellie, a Yorkshire terrier, was found with heavily matted fur, a painful condition, three times over the course of seven months. The USDA notified the owner, Carolyn Anderson, that these dogs required veterinary examinations and treatment in July 2019—but more than four months later, she still hadn’t obtained care for Ellie and two poodles.

Agents also found accumulated feces and urine on and near dog crates all four times they inspected the property between April 2019 and February 2020.

“Dozens of dogs languished in filth and neglect in this hellhole,” says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “Because of suffering like this, PETA is urging people always to adopt animals and never buy them from pet stores, which sell animals bred and born at puppy mills like this one.”

In light of the findings, PETA has asked Cerro Gordo County Attorney Carlyle D. Dalen to investigate the puppy mill and, as appropriate, file criminal cruelty-to-animals charges against those responsible for neglecting the dogs. The group’s letter is available upon request.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.