Big Dogs Seized from North Carolina Breeders

Alas, these cases seem to be all too frequent recently, but this one has a twist. The owners of a North Carolina breeding operation were charged yesterday with animal cruelty after a raid seized 28 dogs, big dogs, from their home. The couple bred Great Danes, Mastiffs, and Doberman Pinschers in kennels behind their mobile home, and neighbors had claimed for years that there were problems. But their complaints had not been acted on:

“What led to this was just years of complaints from consumers who were getting sick puppies,” said Kim Alboum, state director of the Humane Society.

Alboum said state law doesn’t require inspections of breeding operations, and complaints weren’t enough for authorities to step in until animal cruelty could be demonstrated.

Investigators found that many of the dogs had health issues, and some showed signs of actual abuse. It’s time states started requiring such inspections, which would see the number of cases such as this one diminish.

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Because the dogs were seized, their future could be tied up in court. The dogs cannot be put up for adoption until the legal issues are resolved, according to officials. photo courtesy wral.com