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Dog breeder seeks to have charges dropped
Published 11:14 a.m., September 23, 2008
The attorney representing a New York Mills woman accused of animal abuse is asking that the charges against his client be dismissed.
Kathy Bauck, 52, owner of Pick of the Litter Kennels, has been charged with multiple counts of animal cruelty, torture and practicing veterinary medicine without a license in July. The allegations against Bauck come from an animal advocate and former employee, Jason Smith, who joined Pick of the Litter Kennels in mid-April of this year.
By mid-May, Smith had contacted Otter Tail County authorities regarding poor veterinary practices and outright abuse he said he witnessed at work. According to court records, Smith had documentation of dogs being dipped into a chemical mixture inteneded for cattle and swine. He also documented a difficult birth in which some dogs were delivered dead and the female was not treated by a veterinatrian.
On Friday, Bauck's attorney, Zenas Baer, filed a motion to dismiss the charges altogether, citing lack of probable cause.
In a court hearing Monday Baer said the charges against Bauck are based on self-serving information from Jason Smith. Smith’s goal, Baer said, was “to shut down an otherwise longstanding, responsible business in the community.”
According to Baer, Smith is part of the Companion Animal Protection Society (CAPS). This group describes itself as a national animal welfare organization promoting the ethical treatment of companion animals by commercial breeders. CAPS also claims its members have investigated over 1,000 commercial breeding facilities in 16 states since 1995.
If the charges are not dropped, Baer would like the Otter Tail County District Court to suppress all secretly-obtained evidence collected by Smith during the time he worked at Pick of the Litter Kennels. This includes 10 to 12 hours of audio and video footage of Smith working in barns, as well as written summaries of each day’s activities.
Baer argues that as of May 13, when Smith met with Det. Keith Van Dyke of the Otter Tail County Sheriff's Office, Smith became an extension of law enforcement. Smith then proceeded to investigate Bauck’s property without a warrant, violating her Fourth Amendment rights.
Baer also said he believes Smith created evidence against his client. Furthermore, he said, if any abuse had taken place on Bauck’s property, Smith would have been required by law to remove animals from the site, which he did not.
Yet Smith is not the only employee to raise questions about Bauck’s conduct. According to court records, sheriff’s personnel spoke with a juvenile employee in August who had worked at Pick of the Litter Kennels for over a year. The employee claimed to have witnessed Bauck euthanize five dogs by use of a large wooden box connected to the exhaust system of an ATV. The employee also said she had seen Bauck performing hernia and neutering operations on dogs in which the employee believed no anesthesia was used. These operations were also alleged to have been performed on a table in the employee break room.
Smith’s accusations against Bauck have put the breeder at “a significant economic disadvantage,” Baer told Otter Tail County District Court Judge Wally Senyk Monday.
As long as the charges are pending, Baer said, Bauck’s clients as far away as the East Coast will not buy from her.
Senyk will rule on Baer’s motion Oct. 9.
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