Puppy mill - 112 dogs, 8 birds seized
Raleigh, NC (US)Incident Date: Friday, Oct 19, 2007
County: Wake
Disposition: Civil Case
Person of Interest: Janie Conyers
Case Updates: 1 update(s) available
About 80 toy poodles and 30-odd other dogs are being treated at N.C. State's vet school after an investigator seized the animals from their owner, saying the tiny dogs were living in squalor.
Where they go next depends on whether charges are filed against Janie Conyers, 77, who until last week kept 112 dogs and eight birds at her home at 8252 Holly Springs Road, southwest of Raleigh. The birds were seized, too.
Wake County Animal Care, Control & Adoption officials said Thursday that the dogs were being examined. If Conyers is not allowed to keep the dogs, they could soon be put up for adoption. Potential owners have already come calling.
"It can take months, but we will contact them when and if the animals become available," said Michael Williams, director of the Wake County Animal Care, Control & Adoption Center.
According to a search warrant, animal cruelty investigators got a call from someone who had taken a poodle to Conyers' home to breed it. The caller said the home was filthy and crowded, which prompted an investigation.
Kelli Ferris, one of the investigators who went to the residence Oct. 19, found it infested with cockroaches and piles of feces in the basement, where the dogs were kept, according to the warrant.
"The parrot cages are caked with moist food and feces and roaches are crawling among the peanut shells that layer the cage bottom," Ferris wrote on the warrant.
Conyers could not be reached. A resident of a trailer on the property refused to discuss the case.
Williams said that if Conyers is charged, many of the dogs would be prepared for adoption. Some potential owners would have to sign waivers guaranteeing that the dogs would continue to receive care for any pre-existing ailments.
Judy Butler, president of the Central Carolina Poodle Club, said even healthy poodles require a lot of care.
"It's a high-maintenance dog because there's a lot of grooming that has to be done," Butler said.
Williams would not provide details on the condition of the animals.
"I'll just say [the filth] was sufficient enough that the investigator could take possession of them," he said.
Doctors and students have continued their normal routines at the N.C. State College of Veterinary Medicine, said Ferris, who is also a vet at the college. She said nothing would happen with the poodles for some time but suggested an alternative for possible poodle shoppers:
"Come in and see the many other dogs here for adoption."
Case UpdatesJanie Conyers, a dog breeder who had more than 100 animals seized from her home, said today that she agreed to give up them up permanently and never own another animal because she couldn't afford a pending court battle.
An anonymous call led Wake County animal cruelty investigators to the home of Conyers, a champion AKC breeder, in October. The caller reported that she had 106 dogs -- including 80 toy poodles -- living in squalor.
Court documents filed Monday in Wake County said Conyers had agreed to settle a lawsuit in which the Animal Legal Defense Fund sought to keep the animals from being returned to Conyers. In the settlement, she agreed to never own another animal.
"I'm 77 years old and I live on Social Security," she said in a statement released by her attorney, William R. Pittman. "I don't own any property. These people have taken away from me the only other means of income I have.
"I have done nothing wrong."
The Animal Legal Defense Fund is a nonprofit group dedicated to preventing animal cruelty. Also listed as plaintifffs in the case were Wake County and Kelli Ferris, an animal cruelty investigator who also works as a veterinarian with N.C. State University's College of Veterinary Medicine.
Ferris and another investigator visited Conyers' home at 8252 Holly Springs Road, just south of Raleigh, on Oct. 19. Investigators wrote on search warrants that the house was infested with roaches. Piles of feces were found in the home.
According to documents related to the case, some animals were missing teeth, and their jaws had rotted away from lack of proper care.
Conyers denies that her dogs were in poor health. Pittman said in the statement that Conyers had been housing 40 dogs for another breeder and that these dogs were the ones in poor condition. But with that knowledge, Pittman said, investigators still pressed on with a suit against Conyers.
"Perhaps it had something to do with Ms. Conyers being a hall of fame breeder more likely to bring them media attention," he said.
Conyers said she settled the case for the sake of the dogs. | Source: The News & Observer - Dec 13, 2007
Update posted on Dec 14, 2007 - 12:48AM |
References« NC State Animal Cruelty Map
« More cases in Wake County, NC
|
