Fwd: UPDATE: Justice finally served at Almost Heaven (license revoked, sweeping charges filed)

October 21, 2008

Dear Companion Pet Lovers ~

Additional updates regarding the rai

d on Almost Heaven Kennel...

Mary O'Connor-Shaver

Cell: 614-271-8248

Columbus Top Dogs (Shure Pets)

http://www.columbustopdogs.com/

http://www.banohiodogauctions.com/

http://thoughtsfurpaws.com/

LEGISLATIVE ALERTS: Please visit our Home page for pending legislation impacting the welfare of OH animals - http://www.columbustopdogs.com/

I donate ALL profits from the sale of our premium products and accessories to local ani

mal protection groups!

P.S. You or someone you know has requested you be added to the Columbus Top Dogs email list. If you do not want to receive emails from columbustopdogs.com, please reply and put "remove from list" in subject. Thank you!

{His kennel license was revoked today, sweeping charges filed! More media coverage tonight and tomorrow!}

Article 1: Justice finally served at Almost Heaven

Bill White

Morning Call Columnist

October 2, 2008 * http://tinyurl.com/4stedy

I don't have as much faith in justice as I used to.

In the corporate world, in politics, in the courts, even in TV and movies, the bad guys seem to thrive.

Almost Heaven dog kennel contributed to this diminished expectation for justice. Proprietor Derbe ''Skip'' Eckhart had served time for cruelty to animals. I had heard from dozens of witnesses that his operation in Upper Milford Township was awful, and I had accumulated all kinds of evidence of his misdeeds, past and present.

Yet there he was, still in business, clearing state Bureau of Dog Law inspections with flying colors while hundreds of helpless animals suffered. I'd been writing about him for years, and it didn't seem to make any difference.

So it felt really good to be following a convoy of Pennsylvania SPCA vehicles toward Almost Heaven Wednesday afternoon, and even better when SPCA investigators and veterinarians emerged -- we weren't allowed back there -- to confirm what so many of us already knew.

Almost Heaven was a hellhole.

They said it was vastly overcrowded, with dogs stacked on top of one another in tiny cages. Indescribably filthy, with animals walking and sleeping in their own feces and their coats covered with excrement and urine.

They described sick animals. Frightened animals. Injured animals. Dehydrated animals.

Even dead, decomposing animals, in plain sight.

It wasn't just dogs. There were cats, guinea pigs, fowl, horses, monkeys, even a pot-bellied pig. This guy is like the Doctor Doolittle from Hell.

SPCA vet tech Angela Messer, who had been knee-deep in all this, said, ''It's a shame that he's been able to continue this way without anybody putting a stop to this.''

Indeed, one of the highlights of the afternoon was the arrival of state Bureau of Dog Law warden Orlando Aguirre, who was part of the four-person team that gave this cesspool all ''satisfactory'' ratings back in August. Aguirre had no comment.

If this raid accomplishes nothing else -- besides driving Skip Eckhart from the kennel business -- I hope it puts the screws anew to an agency that has dismally failed to protect Pennsylvania dogs from the avarice and cruelty of puppy mill operators. Thank heaven for the SPCA.

It was a bizarre scene. Even from the street, the reek of feces was sickening. You could see filthy dogs trying to bark at us, except that they had been debarked, so they whispered at us.

Interesting people kept turning up, too. Millie Altomare, 68, arrived to pick up a couple of dogs that were being clipped at Almost Heaven -- and proclaimed her support for Eckhart and disgust with the people trying to interfere with his business.

She told our reporter and videographer that she would love to get her hands on that Bill White, who has been mistreating Eckhart all these years.

I sheepishly raised my hand. ''That's me,'' I said.

''I'd like to kick your ass all the way down the street,'' she proclaimed.

Bracing myself for a beating, I remarked on the horrible smell. ''It's not a florist's shop,'' she snapped.

Animal rescue people started arriving, elated to see Eckhart being brought down. ''It's the best day of my life,'' said Main Line Animal Rescue's Bill Smith, a longtime Eckhart critic.=0

A

A crew from Animal Planet's ''Animal Cops'' show was there all afternoon, preparing a future program on the raid. TV news helicopters and crews started converging, too.

By the time I left, we had word that Eckhart faced up to 447 counts of animal cruelty -- potentially carrying fines of $2,500 per count -- and that dog law officials in Harrisburg would be deciding whether to yank his license.

In similar cases, kennel owners have relinquished their licenses and their animals to avoid a financial soaking. That clearly was the SPCA's hope.

So if I'm sitting here with a silly grin on my face, you'll have to excuse me.

Justice is very sweet.

bill.white 610-559-2146

Bill White's commentary appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Article 2: State to investigate why dog wardens gave Upper Milford kennel good rating

The Morning Call

3:27 PM EDT, October 2, 2008

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-dog-1002cn,0,660925.story

State Agriculture Department officials will hold an investigation to determine why dog wardens gav

e a clean bill of health to a Lehigh County kennel weeks before humane inspectors found it filthy and overcrowded with dirty, diseased and dead animals.

Agriculture spokesman Chris Ryder today said the department, which oversees dog wardens, will conduct the investigation.

State SPCA humane officers, armed with a search warrant, Wednesday raided Almost Heaven Kennels in Upper Milford Township and seized 56 sick cats and dogs. They also found dead animals, including 65 animal carcasses in a freezer, as well as a variety of birds, pigs, monkeys and horses, many covered in feces.

Officials filed a host of charges against owner Derbe Eckhart.

Eckhart said an Aug. 7 inspection by state dog wardens showed that the humane officials overstated the case against him. "What they tried to do yesterday was paint a picture that wasn't there," Eckhart told The Associated Press Thursday.

Attempts to reach Jessie Smith, special deputy secretary for Dog Law Enforcement, and Susan West, director of the Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement, were ongoing today.

West accompanied three dog wardens on that Aug. 7 inspection, state records show.

State Rep. Doug Reichley, R-Lehigh, said he also asked how the August inspection could have found nothing wrong.

"From their understanding, the conditions had deteriorated in an incredible short period of time, the last two weeks," he said, referring to the state dog wardens. But Howard Nelson, executive director of the state SPCA, doubted that claim, considering the condition of the kennel and animals.

"I find it hard to believe that this happened just in a period of six to eight weeks," he said.

-- By Tim Darragh of The Morning Call

Article 3: State is Revoking Upper Milford Kennel's License

By: Tim Darragh, The Morning Call

State Agriculture Department officials is revoking the license of a Lehigh County kennel owner and investigate why dog wardens gave his business a clean bill of health weeks before humane inspectors found it filthy and overcrowded with dirty, diseased and dead animals.

Agriculture spokesman Chris Ryder today confirmed the license issued to Almost Heaven Kennels of Upper Milford Township is being revoked. Owner Derbe "Skip" Eckhart has 10 days to appeal.

State SPCA humane officers, armed with a search warrant, Wednesday raided Almost Heaven and seized 56 sick cats and dogs. They also found dead animals, including 65 carcasses in a freezer, as well as a variety of live birds, pigs, monkeys and horses, many covered in feces.

Officials filed two charges of lack of veterinary care and unsanitary confinement against Eckhart, who has a history of cruelty to animal charges and other animal-related violations dating to 1988. The new charges involve 43 dogs, nine cats and a guinea pig. Eckhart has 10 days to enter a plea.

It was unclear why so few citations were filed, given that hundreds of violations were noted during the raid, which began around 1:15 p.m. Wednesday and lasted far into the night.

Eckhart said an Aug. 7 inspection by state dog wardens showed that the humane officials overstated the case against him. "What they tried to do yesterday was paint a picture that wasn't there," Eckhart told The Associated Press today.

Even so, he was cooperating with the society by signing over dogs, Elaine Skypala, PSPCA chief program officer, told The Morning Call.

The agriculture department said it will look into the discrepancy between the Aug. 7 inspection and the humane officers' findings Wednesday. Attempts to reach Jessie Smith, special deputy secretary for Dog Law Enforcement, and Susan West, director of the Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement were unsuccessful.

West accompanied dog wardens Orlando Aguirre and Ed Bunt and supervisor Diane Buhl on that inspection, state records show. It indicated nothing amiss at the kennel, 4202 Chestnut St. An inspection about a year earlier, on Aug. 8, 2007, showed Almost Heaven received unsatisfactory marks for maintenance, unsealed wooden kennel pens and housekeeping/pest control.

Records also show that Almost Heaven received two other spotless inspections in 2008 and two more in 2007.

State Rep. Doug Reichley, R-Lehigh, asked dog law officials how the August inspection could have found nothing wrong,=2

0considering the foul conditions discovered Wednesday.

"From their understanding, the conditions had deteriorated in an incredible short period of time, the last two weeks," he said.

But Howard Nelson, executive director of the state SPCA, doubted that claim.

"I find it hard to believe that this happened just in a period of six to eight weeks," he said.

Reichley later issued a statement with state Sen. Rob Wonderling, R-Montgomery, saying reports showed that kennel conditions were "beyond disgraceful."