News 10-02-08 State is Revoking Upper Milford Kennel's License By: Tim Darragh, The Morning Call State Agriculture Department officials is revoking the license of a Lehigh County kennel owner and investigate why dog wardens gave his business a clean bill of health weeks before humane inspectors found it filthy and overcrowded with dirty, diseased and dead animals. Agriculture spokesman Chris Ryder today confirmed the license issued to Almost Heaven Kennels of Upper Milford Township is being revoked. Owner Derbe "Skip" Eckhart has 10 days to appeal. State SPCA humane officers, armed with a search warrant, Wednesday raided Almost Heaven and seized 56 sick cats and dogs. They also found dead animals, including 65 carcasses in a freezer, as well as a variety of live birds, pigs, monkeys and horses, many covered in feces. Officials filed two charges of lack of veterinary care and unsanitary confinement against Eckhart, who has a history of cruelty to animal charges and other animal-related violations dating to 1988. The new charges involve 43 dogs, nine cats and a guinea pig. Eckhart has 10 days to enter a plea. It was unclear why so few citations were filed, given that hundreds of violations were noted during the raid, which began around 1:15 p.m. Wednesday and lasted far into the night. Eckhart said an Aug. 7 inspection by state dog wardens showed that the humane officials overstated the case against him. "What they tried to do yesterday was paint a picture that wasn't there," Eckhart told The Associated Press today. Even so, he was cooperating with the society by signing over dogs, Elaine Skypala, PSPCA chief program officer, told The Morning Call. The agriculture department said it will look into the discrepancy between the Aug. 7 inspection and the humane officers' findings Wednesday. Attempts to reach Jessie Smith, special deputy secretary for Dog Law Enforcement, and Susan West, director of the Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement were unsuccessful. West accompanied dog wardens Orlando Aguirre and Ed Bunt and supervisor Diane Buhl on that inspection, state records show. It indicated nothing amiss at the kennel, 4202 Chestnut St. An inspection about a year earlier, on Aug. 8, 2007, showed Almost Heaven received unsatisfactory marks for maintenance, unsealed wooden kennel pens and housekeeping/pest control. Records also show that Almost Heaven received two other spotless inspections in 2008 and two more in 2007. State Rep. Doug Reichley, R-Lehigh, asked dog law officials how the August inspection could have found nothing wrong, considering the foul conditions discovered Wednesday. "From their understanding, the conditions had deteriorated in an incredible short period of time, the last two weeks," he said. But Howard Nelson, executive director of the state SPCA, doubted that claim. "I find it hard to believe that this happened just in a period of six to eight weeks," he said. Reichley later issued a statement with state Sen. Rob Wonderling, R-Montgomery, saying reports showed that kennel conditions were "beyond disgraceful." Click below to see current inspection reports on Almost Heaven Breeding Kennel 2007 Boarding Kennel 2007 Breeding Kennel 2008 Boarding Kennel 2008 |
News & Events
Events Our "Howloween" Costume Party Everyone had lots of fun! Our rally on 8/30 went really well, we had many people stop to ask questions and we handed out a lot of literature and we were featured on 69 News. We need more volunteers to help hold signs, please stop by for our next rally, even if you can only stop out for an hour! This was our first rally on 6/14. Our first rally on Saturday, June 14th went really well. We had tons of beeps and cheers and "thumbs up" from passers by. We hope the rest will also be a success. |
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| This is a video of the recent HSUS raid of a TN puppy mill. It is short and informative. |
| Some mills are filthy and obviously unsuitable for dogs, but some mills appear clean and neat, but these breeding dogs are still kept in cages their ENTIRE LIVES and bred over and over and over until their little bodies cannot take any more, then they are killed. |
This mill owner said that he thought the
"exercise" wheels were good for the dogs, so
they'd have to keep moving all the time.
"exercise" wheels were good for the dogs, so
they'd have to keep moving all the time.
Big breeds are from puppy mills too!
| Looks like a nice farm, right? This is what most mills look like from the road. This mill is the biggest in PA and supplies many local pet shops. |
| This is only one small section of breeding dogs, this mill houses about 600-900 dogs at any given time (according to their USDA inspection reports). |
| Our new billboard is finally up! Adams Outdoor Advertising donated billboard space and time for a beautiful Humane Society of the United States billboard. LVPMW and HSUS worked together for this billboard to become a reality, it will be featured all over the valley on a rotating basis). You have to check it out! |
| Check out the CBS 3 News' broadcast about the recent shootings. |
| Our 8/30 rally was a great success! |
