Puppy mill - 37 poodles seized from squalor Albuquerque, NM (US) Incident Date: Sunday, Sep 9, 1990 County: Bernalillo Local Map: available Disposition: Alleged Alleged: Lazona Wyche

Case ID: 7466 Classification: Hoarding, Neglect / Abandonment Animal: dog (non pit-bull) View more cases in NM (US) Login to Watch this Case

Lazona Wyche, 64, had twenty-seven poodles taken from her Albuquerque home and they were later destroyed because they were aggressive, had no current vaccinations and were covered with feces-matted hair.

Assistant city attorney Adelia Kearny said, "Given their behavior, age, origin an fact they couldn't be placed with other animals without being completely shaved, the kennel supervisor decided they were unlikely to be adopted and should be destroyed."

Wyche has filed a civil rights lawsuit in federal court related to the deaths of the dogs. She said animal control officers came to her home unannounced June 9 and told her to choose four adults and some puppies from the 37 dogs she had in the home.

"I had to stand there with all those little hearts looking at me and try to choose which ones I could keep." She said the officers, backed by a city police unit, they used a long pole with a noose to capture the rest of the dogs by their necks and put them into trucks to be hauled to the city animal shelter.

Wyche said she was told the dogs would be placed in good homes. "I found out later that they killed them within minutes of unloading them."

The city said Wyche knew what would happen to the dogs when she relinquished them and that she voluntarily signed papers attesting to that.

An anonymous phone call reported the conditions in Wyche's home. Animal control officer John Donnamaria said he read her a "surrender of animal" form when the dogs were seized.

The form said the poodles would become city property to be destroyed or humanely disposed of.

The city worked with Wyche to improve conditions at her home which was unfit for humans or animals.

The home was ankle deep with dog droppings in places and was a breeding ground for cockroaches.

Wyche field suit Oct 31 in U.S. District Court alleging the city and Donnamaria deprived her of $5,000 in property without due process of law. She wants to recover that and $50,000 in punitive damages in a jury trial. Wyche said the city killed the dogs without complying with an ordinance that requires a waiting period in which owners may reclaim their pets.

She said she has been breeding toy poodles at her home for about 12 years. She sold about six to twelve a year.

The city denies any violation of Wyche's rights.

Conditions described at Wyche's home were reported in a letter which reads in part, "Officer Donnamaria reported that the windows at the residence were closed in spite of the heat. No cooling or ventilating system was operating ... For years, (the dogs) had been allowed to defecate and urinate in every room of the house except the storage room. The result was an overwhelming stench. Feces, old and new, were piled inches deep."

The city letter also said Donnamaria explained the violations to Wyche, including building code violations, the lack of current rabies vaccinations or licenses for the dogs and the lack of a hobby breeder or kennel permit.

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References

El Paso Times - Nov 20, 1990

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