<img src="http://www.joplinglobeonline.com/images/zope/extra.gif" border=0> Kennel owner charged with abuse <font color="#ff0000"> w/ Charges and probable-cause affidavits</font>

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February 20, 2009

Anonymous The Joplin Globe Fri Feb 20, 2009, 11:28 PM CST

By Derek Spellman

dspellman@joplinglobe.com

SENECA, Mo. — The operator of a rural Seneca kennel with a history of violating state and federal animal welfare regulations now faces local charges of animal abuse.

Margaret J. “Jewel” Bond, 66, was charged Friday with two counts of animal abuse on Friday. On Thursday, authorities seized 208 dogs, a house cat and a Bengal tiger allegedly suffering from a lack of water, unsanitary conditions and poor health care.

Newton County Sheriff Ken Copeland confirmed that officers found the carcasses of two puppies inside the cage of the tiger that Bond kept as a pet.

“It didn’t appear like there was any place an animal could crawl into the cage,” Copeland said, raising questions about whether Bond fed the animals to the tiger. “She claimed she fed it dead chickens.”

There was no answer when the Globe called Bond at her home multiple times Friday.

Probable-cause affidavits accompanying the criminal complaint allege authorities also found the skeletal remains of puppies and adult dogs in dog-food bags behind one of the buildings on the kennel compound.

One of the counts of animal abuse covers all 208 dogs that were found by authorities, said Newton County Prosecutor Jacob Skouby.

Logistically, he said, it would be difficult to file and then prosecute hundreds of individual counts for each dog. He did say his office might break the one charge into separate counts later.

The second animal-abuse charge stems from the alleged neglect of the tiger, which weighed less than half of what it should have, according to a Joplin veterinarian.

“The tiger had ribs that were visible showing through the skin,” William Pike, of the Newton County Sheriff’s Department, wrote in the probable-cause affidavit. “The tiger’s hair had mud and feces in it.”

Copeland said the Newton County Sheriff’s Department obtained a search warrant for Bond’s kennel, at 12250 Highway 43, after receiving complaints from the public.

Bond was supposed to have ceased operations in late 2007 per an agreement with the state Department of Agriculture, which did not press for charges against her after she voluntarily relinquished ownership of about 150 dogs and surrendered her state license.

But problems at the kennel had been found years earlier by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which also licensed Bond and filed a complaint against her in August 2004 alleging that she “willfully” violated a host of provisions of the Animal Welfare Act the previous year.

Federal inspectors then noted problems that included the kennel being structurally unsound; deteriorated decking on the roofs of the pens; rotted and decayed rafters; no provisions for pest control; incidents of rust; and excessive fecal matter from both dogs and rodents.

In one case, USDA inspectors found a box housing dogs had “rodent feces accumulated to a thickness of one and one half inches,” according to federal documents.

A hearing officer noted that “(Bond) became so incensed when told by an Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service investigator that a building in her facility still did not meet applicable standards, she removed approximately 10 dogs it housed and put them outside on a cold winter night when the temperature was only 20 degrees Fahrenheit.”

Bond denied many of the allegations, contending that she had spent almost $45,000 in improvements to her kennel since June 2002 to comply with federal regulations. Those improvements, according to federal records, were an outgrowth of a separate complaint brought against Bond in 2001, although information about the nature of that complaint was unavailable Friday.

The USDA ultimately obtained, after several years and multiple appeals by Bond that reached all the way to the U.S. Court of Appeals, a $10,000 fine against her and a one-year suspension of her federal license. Information about when that fine and suspension took effect was unavailable Friday.

Bond lost her state license, issued by the Missouri Department of Agriculture, in 2007. The state license is needed for breeders who sell not only to other businesses but also to individuals, the state said. The federal license covers only the former.

Matt Rold, an investigator with the state Agriculture Department’s Animal Care Facility Program, said the state also did annual inspections of Bond’s kennel. Many of the state’s rules mirror the federal ones.

But the state inspections in previous years found only violations that were “indirect problems,” or had no direct impact on the health and welfare of the animals, Rold said. It was only later that the state inspectors found serious problems, prompting its action in 2007, he said.

When asked about the differences between what USDA inspectors found and did, and what state inspectors found and did, Rold said the state strips a facility of its license and shuts it down “once (it) becomes a lost cause.”

The state prefers to keep a breeding operation open and try to bring it into compliance, he said, because it allows the agency to retain a measure of oversight. Shutting the facility down altogether also can create a problem because it can mean the animals there have nowhere to go.

“We want to keep our foot in the door,” Rold said.

The state reached an agreement with Bond in 2007 after finding “serious problems” with food, shelter or water accommodations at the kennel. In addition to surrendering her license, Bond was fined $1,000 by the state and had to turn over her animals. She also was ordered to close the kennel and keep it closed.

Selling animals without a breeder’s license in Missouri is a class A misdemeanor.

Jerry Eber, a veterinarian with the state Department of Agriculture, said the agency is awaiting evidence that Bond was selling the animals. Mere possession of the animals itself is not a violation.

Copeland, the sheriff, said his department’s investigation is continuing.

“I think it reaches farther than this,” he said of the kennel’s operation, noting that authorities are investigating whether Bond also sold animals at other locations.

Animal abuse is a class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine. Bond is set to appear in Associate Division of Newton County Circuit Court at 8:30 a.m. Monday, March 9.

Animals’ status

Authorities say all of the dogs seized are being cared for by the Missouri Humane Society at a shelter at St. Louis. The tiger was taken to the zoo at Springfield on Thursday, but will be transferred to the St. Louis shelter on Monday.