-
Feb 7, 2006 9:49 pm US/Central
-
Digg |
Facebook |
E-mail
|
Print
Morrison Co. Won't Rescind Permit For Dog Kennel
(AP)
Morrison County commissioners have temporarily banned new commercial dog-breeding kennels, but do not plan to rescind the permit approved last month for a 600-dog breeding kennel near Little Falls.
The County Board on Tuesday instituted a one-year moratorium on new kennels and is asking the Legislature to regulate how they are operated.
County Administrator Tim Houle said the board needs time to sort through the volumes of public comments -- including more than 1,000 e-mails -- it has received about commercial breeding operations before deciding any future applications.
But the moratorium won't affect Gary McDuffee, the breeder whose plan for the huge kennel has sparked outrage and attracted nationwide attention.
However, the county is sending a letter to McDuffee changing its position on his plan to "debark" dogs kept outside. Debarking is a surgical procedure that involves removing vocal cord tissue to reduce the volume and pitch of a dog's bark.
County officials are now urging McDuffee to instead use bark collars, which deliver a mild shock when a dog barks.
The county's letter also reminds McDuffee that if he violates his license from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, he may lose his county permit to operate as well.
Since the board approved McDuffee's permit, media reports have disclosed violations of a USDA license at Happy Tails Kennel near Cushing, of which McDuffee was formerly a co-owner with his ex-wife, Wanda.
The violations included overcrowding, having kennels with not enough head room, mesh floors too wide to protect puppies' feet and selling puppies before the 8-week minimum age.
The county also is sending a letter to Minnesota's two U.S. senators and Rep. James Oberstar expressing concern that the county was not notified of Happy Tails Kennel's USDA violations before the board decided on the permit.
"That information would clearly have been relevant to us in the consideration of a conditional-use permit by one of the operators of the Happy Tails kennel for a new facility," the letter states. "In the absence of that information, we approved a permit that we are now legally bound to honor."
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)