Several news stories today suggest that Morrison County is rethinking dog kennels. But their thinking is too little and too late. While it may sound a little inspiring that the commissioners recently passes a resolution prohibiting any new commercial breeding facilities (a.k.a "puppy mills") they also indicate they have no plan to rescind the conditional-use permit granted to McDuffee.
Their failure to reconsider McDuffee's permit is perplexing for several reasons. Most important are these:
The Commissioners have stated that McDuffee told them he has had no complaints at his other puppy mill, an 800-dog facility now run by his ex-wife, Wanda. However, nearly a dozen USDA reports have recently surfaced that say otherwise.
USDA reports, and inspections by the Companion Animal Protection Society (CAPS) indicate many problems with McDuffee's other facility. Code violations cited in these reports include inadequate housing, improperly cleaning, as well as other problems.
It seems clear that the surfacing of these reports, and the failure by McDuffee to tell the County about them, are reason enough to revoke the permit.
Such grounds for revoking the permit also appear to blow holes in the Commissioner's other excuse for not taking the permit away. In the past week, commissioners have said the county may be liable for expenses incurred by McDuffee following the granting of the permit. However, that excuse does not hold water. If McDuffee failed to provide relevant information when seeking his permit - or worse, if he actually provided false information - those should be grounds to revoke the permit.
The commissioners pig-headed refusal to stop this puppy mill is shocking, given the outright anger being expressed in their own community. Letters to the editor, editorials and other public feedback from their constituents has been unanimously opposed to the puppy mill permit. Additionally, the County's actions have attracted national attention. An online petition to stop the puppy mill has, as of the morning of Feb 8, collected more than 15,000 signatures. The county also reported that thousands of emails and phone calls have also poured into the county, almost all of them in opposition to the permit.
So what's the deal?
In the face of this widespread opposition, combined with proof that McDuffee either withheld information or provided false information to the county during the permit process, the County's recent actions seem pretty empty. How many new puppy mills did the county expect to seek permits in the next year? I expect the answer is zero. So passing a resolution to ban new permits for one year, while refusing to address problems with existing puppy mills, seems more than hollow.
One positive thing the county did recently was to send a letter to McDuffee, indicating a change in their policy regarding debarking of the dogs. Originally, they asked that any dogs housed outdoors be debarked. Now, they are reversing their position. They are, instead, asking that McDuffee use shock collars on the dogs to minimize barking, a "solution" that is, maybe better than debarking, but which is not without humane concerns.
Electric collars that deliver a shock to dogs that bark are widely considered inhumane for many reasons. Most importantly, because the collars have a difficult time differentiating between a dog bark or other loud noises, the collars are reported to deliver frequent false "corrections". In a 600-dog environment, where hundreds of dogs could be barking at one time, such collars could be downright dangerous.
Even proponents of shock collars generally agree they are should not be used in multiple-dog environments, or on animals that are not being directly supervised. Malfunctions of shock collars have been reported, resulting in severe electrical burns.
Another action taken by the Commissioners is surprising. A letter of complaint from the County was reported to have been sent to the state legislature. They complained the County was not informed of USDA violations. There are just a couple of problems with that. 1) The state legislature does not oversee the USDA and 2) It was the County's job to check with the USDA to see if violations occurred, not the other way around.
Rather than throwing up straw-man arguments, or taking hollow actions, the County would do everyone, including themselves, a big favor to simply correct their past mistakes by rescinding the land-use permit they should never have granted. |  | Morrison County District 1
Commissioner Tom Wenzel
20754 Highway #10
Little Falls, MN 56345
320-749-2288
Email: tomw@co.morrison.mn.us
Communities in this district:
Cushing Township, Darling Township, Green Prairie Township, Little Falls City - 3, Motley City, Motley Township, Rail Prairie Township, Randall City, Rosing Township, Scandia Valley Township
Morrison County District 2
Commissioner Jeff Schilling
25117 185th Avenue
Ft. Ripley, MN 56449
320-745-2617
Email: jeffs@co.morrison.mn.us
Communities in this district:
Belle Prairie Township, Buh Township, Little Falls City - 2, Platte Township, Ripley Township
Morrison County District 3
Commissioner Gene Young
15234 Game Farm Road
Little Falls, MN 56345
320-745-2537
Email geney@co.morrison.mn.us
Communities in this district:
Bellevue Township, Little Falls City - 1, Little Falls Township, Royalton City
Morrison County District 4
Commissioner Don Meyer
19628 305th Avenue
Pierz, MN 56364
320-468-6096
Email: donm@co.morrison.mn.us
Communities in this district:
Agram Township, Buckman City, Buckman Township, Genola City, Granite Township, Harding City, Hillman City, Hillman Township, Lakin Township, Lastrup City, Leigh Township, Morrill Township, Mount Morris Township, Pierz City, Pierz Township, Pulaski Township, Richardson Township
Morrison County District 5
Commissioner Bill Block
6651 170th Street
Little Falls, MN 56345
320-749-2013
Email: billb@co.morrison.mn.us
Communities in this district:
Bowlus City, Culdrum Township, Elmdale City, Elmdale Township, Flensburg City, Parker Township, Sobieski City, Swan River Township, Swanville Township, Two Rivers Township, Upsala City
Email an editorial to the local paper- the Morrison County Record
mcr@mcrecord.com |