Post by Brooke on Jan 21, 2004 19:24:18 GMT -5
Purported puppy mill raided in Kentucky
By Shelly Whitehead
Post staff reporter
WILLIAMSTOWN, Ky. -- By noon, a double row of cars lined the gravel road leading to the Grant County Animal Shelter.
Some came to give.
A $1,000 Wal-Mart gift card from one anonymous donor. A ton-and-a-half of dog food from another. And dozens of car trunks and pickup beds filled with blankets and towels and dog pens.
But, many more came to take something four-legged and furry and too long lost home with them.
They had read or heard the news that at first 16, and then Thursday night, 108, dogs had been seized from a Harrison County farm during one of the biggest alleged puppy mill busts ever in the region.
County sheriff's deputies were looking into the activities of two people who could be facing hundreds of counts of animal cruelty.
But the people in the line of cars were just looking for their pets.
So Friday they came to Williamstown with photographs and registration papers and anything else that might identify one of the confiscated animals as the one they had lost months, or even years, ago.
"This is Hank," said Fleming County resident, Terry Lee, showing off a photo of a brown American boxer. Lee and his wife, Diane, made the two-hour trip to Grant County after hearing news of the bust.
"Ole Hank disappeared quick -- within an hour's time," Lee said. "We let him out to go to the bathroom and he was gone."
That was an oft-repeated sentiment among the crowd waiting for the shelter to open Friday morning.
Just a few hours earlier a small army of sheriff's deputies, state troopers, animal control officers and volunteers had completed the arduous process of safely moving the 108 live dogs seized from Tonya Moukaddem's Berry, Ky. farm overnight.
The animals were confiscated after Grant and Harrison County sheriff's deputies executed a search warrant at the property and turned up evidence of what they say was rampant animal abuse and neglect.
The bust was the culmination of years of complaints and months of intense investigation into kennels operated by Moukaddem and her former husband, Ken Sunbom, in rural areas of Grant, Pendleton and Harrison counties.
Thursday night, Moukaddem was arrested for parole violations related to a conviction two years ago for felony theft.
She and Sunbom, who is currently charged with 19 counts of animal cruelty, are in the Grant County Detention Center in Williamstown, just footsteps away from the shelter housing the confiscated dogs.
Grant County Deputy Sheriff Chuck Dills, who spearheaded investigation, says more charges will be filed against the two early next week, including possible theft charges.
Police and animal control professionals say preliminary evidence suggests that Sunbom and Moukaddem operated puppy mills -- high-output, low-investment breeding businesses.
Dills said deputies have already found evidence that at least two dogs seized Jan. 8 from Sun-bom's farm were likely stolen.
And he said initial evidence suggests many more animals confiscated Thursday night in Harrison County might also have been stolen for breeding purposes.
Officials said the animals are still being documented as the legal evidence they're expected to soon be, and treated as the sick dogs many already are.
Those critical legal and medical needs, along with the fact that Grant County Animal Warden Wanda Bedard is the only real paid shelter staff available to handle the sudden onslaught of police and public and dogs, have prompted county officials to ask the public to wait until next week to view the dogs.
Bedard worked nearly straight through for two days to find spaces for the adoptable dogs at her facility and five other Northern Kentucky animal shelters.
Once those dogs were placed, she was able to move the 108 confiscated dogs into the Williamstown shelter. She said the sudden population increase has left the shelter with a lot of needs.
"We need puppy pens, stainless steel vet cages, and we need all the stuff that will help us keep them all more comfortable than they are now," Bedard said. "We need vets who can come in for immediate care to the animals."
Dills said that next week if any of the animals are proven to be stolen property, it's possible they could be released to their owners.
But he stressed that ownership must be documented or otherwise proven.
That process will begin on Tuesday, after the Martin Luther King Day holiday. The Grant County Animal Shelter phone number is (859) 824-9403. The shelter is off of the new Barnes Road exit of Interstate 75 in Grant County.
Publication Date: 01-17-2004
By Shelly Whitehead
Post staff reporter
WILLIAMSTOWN, Ky. -- By noon, a double row of cars lined the gravel road leading to the Grant County Animal Shelter.
Some came to give.
A $1,000 Wal-Mart gift card from one anonymous donor. A ton-and-a-half of dog food from another. And dozens of car trunks and pickup beds filled with blankets and towels and dog pens.
But, many more came to take something four-legged and furry and too long lost home with them.
They had read or heard the news that at first 16, and then Thursday night, 108, dogs had been seized from a Harrison County farm during one of the biggest alleged puppy mill busts ever in the region.
County sheriff's deputies were looking into the activities of two people who could be facing hundreds of counts of animal cruelty.
But the people in the line of cars were just looking for their pets.
So Friday they came to Williamstown with photographs and registration papers and anything else that might identify one of the confiscated animals as the one they had lost months, or even years, ago.
"This is Hank," said Fleming County resident, Terry Lee, showing off a photo of a brown American boxer. Lee and his wife, Diane, made the two-hour trip to Grant County after hearing news of the bust.
"Ole Hank disappeared quick -- within an hour's time," Lee said. "We let him out to go to the bathroom and he was gone."
That was an oft-repeated sentiment among the crowd waiting for the shelter to open Friday morning.
Just a few hours earlier a small army of sheriff's deputies, state troopers, animal control officers and volunteers had completed the arduous process of safely moving the 108 live dogs seized from Tonya Moukaddem's Berry, Ky. farm overnight.
The animals were confiscated after Grant and Harrison County sheriff's deputies executed a search warrant at the property and turned up evidence of what they say was rampant animal abuse and neglect.
The bust was the culmination of years of complaints and months of intense investigation into kennels operated by Moukaddem and her former husband, Ken Sunbom, in rural areas of Grant, Pendleton and Harrison counties.
Thursday night, Moukaddem was arrested for parole violations related to a conviction two years ago for felony theft.
She and Sunbom, who is currently charged with 19 counts of animal cruelty, are in the Grant County Detention Center in Williamstown, just footsteps away from the shelter housing the confiscated dogs.
Grant County Deputy Sheriff Chuck Dills, who spearheaded investigation, says more charges will be filed against the two early next week, including possible theft charges.
Police and animal control professionals say preliminary evidence suggests that Sunbom and Moukaddem operated puppy mills -- high-output, low-investment breeding businesses.
Dills said deputies have already found evidence that at least two dogs seized Jan. 8 from Sun-bom's farm were likely stolen.
And he said initial evidence suggests many more animals confiscated Thursday night in Harrison County might also have been stolen for breeding purposes.
Officials said the animals are still being documented as the legal evidence they're expected to soon be, and treated as the sick dogs many already are.
Those critical legal and medical needs, along with the fact that Grant County Animal Warden Wanda Bedard is the only real paid shelter staff available to handle the sudden onslaught of police and public and dogs, have prompted county officials to ask the public to wait until next week to view the dogs.
Bedard worked nearly straight through for two days to find spaces for the adoptable dogs at her facility and five other Northern Kentucky animal shelters.
Once those dogs were placed, she was able to move the 108 confiscated dogs into the Williamstown shelter. She said the sudden population increase has left the shelter with a lot of needs.
"We need puppy pens, stainless steel vet cages, and we need all the stuff that will help us keep them all more comfortable than they are now," Bedard said. "We need vets who can come in for immediate care to the animals."
Dills said that next week if any of the animals are proven to be stolen property, it's possible they could be released to their owners.
But he stressed that ownership must be documented or otherwise proven.
That process will begin on Tuesday, after the Martin Luther King Day holiday. The Grant County Animal Shelter phone number is (859) 824-9403. The shelter is off of the new Barnes Road exit of Interstate 75 in Grant County.
Publication Date: 01-17-2004