Group petitions large-scale dog breeder

NOBLE COUNTY, Ind. (WANE) - UPDATE: Wednesday night the Noble County Zoning Board met to hear the requests of six petitioners or dog breeders. In a meeting that lasted over four hours, board members approved all six requests for kennel licenses.

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More than 800 people have signed an online petition against the applications for several large-scale dog breeding organizations up for review Wednesday night in Noble County.

An animal awareness group based in Michigan launched a campaign to prohibit operations like Marlin Bontrager’s in Rome City, Ind.  Botranger’s breeding facility is the largest supplier for The Family Puppy, a Michigan pet store chain according to Pam Sodyl of Puppy Mill Awareness Southeast Michigan .

Bontrager has applied for a special exemption to kennel more than four dogs at a given time.  His request to house around 200 adult dogs will be addressed along with five other individual applicants at a 7:00 p.m. meeting of the Noble County Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA).

Lori Gagen, the director for Black Pine Animal Sanctuary joined the awareness group’s cause upon hearing of the petition.

“This is just something I don’t want to see in my hometown,” Gagen said.  “There’s a big difference between a family that is a private breeder of purebred dogs and someone who is producing these by the hundreds and selling them in retailers outside the immediate area.”

Gagen said findings from her own research motivated her to encourage the BZA to deny the requests.

“A very big part of our mission here at Black Pine involves the responsible ownership of animals regardless of what kind of animals they are,” she said.

In October 2012, an inspection listed as “routine” by the USDA reported several violations on Bontrager’s property which kenneled, at that time, more than 170 adult dogs.

The violations included animals found in unsanitary conditions, a number of which had not received adequate veterinary care.

Pictures included in the report showed dogs with infected eyes while others were housed in areas where an “excessive amount of feces accumulated… One large section of the washdown had beetle larvae shells covering the feces piles which indicated that the piles have been present for a significant period of time” the report stated.

Corrections of the violations were ordered to take place by October 24, 2012 but files do not show a return visit by the USDA.

Bontrager did not permit a NewsChannel 15 crew access to his kennels nor an interview on the matter.  He stated that he does not feel the operation is unlawful, nor should it be considered a puppy mill and would not comment until after the BZA meeting.

The meeting will be held in the Noble County Office Complex located at 2090 N. State Road 9 in Albion.  Petitioners encouraged dog advocates to attend the meeting.