|
Cover Stories Spring 2001 Updates: Florida Abuse Case and Wisconsin Kennel Owner Research Case West Palm
Beach, Florida: On Feb. 5 Mitchell Haber, formerly a trainer at
the Palm Beach Kennel Club, pleaded guilty to four counts of animal cruelty
in Palm Beach County. He was placed on 18 months probation and fined $111
plus $50 in court costs In addition, he was ordered to perform 50 hours
of community service work at an animal rescue shelter. In mid March Haber, through his attorney, filed a request for a hearing. According to Joseph Helton, Jr., Assistant General Counsel ofthe Division's Office ofthe General Counsel, the case has been referred to the Division of Administrative Law Hearings. Helton told GNN March 14 that the hearing will likely be held sometime in May. Case background: Cruelty charges were filed against Haber in early September 2000, nearly a month after four male greyhounds in his kennel died of heat exposure. Five dogs had been left outside without shelter in 90 degree heat for three hours. When Haber returned to the track compound he found three dogs dead in the turnout pen behind his kennel. Haber cut off both ears of each dog, loaded their bodies into his truck, drove them to an isolated area of the kennel compound, and buried them. The fourth dog had jumped the fence and was found dead in another kennel's turnout area. Haber took that greyhound to the Palm Beach Animal League for disposal. The fifth dog survived. An anonymous tip to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office lead to the investigation and subsequent cruelty charges. See GNN Fall
2000 for details of the case. Madison, Wisconsin: The U.S. Department of Agriculture filed a complaint from its Riverdale, Md., offices on January 3 against Daniel S. Shonka for multiple violations of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). "Based on what we've found, we believe Shonka violated the AWA a number of times," said W. Ron DeHaven, USDA Deputy Administrator. "We will pursue these charges to the fullest extent the law allows." USDA investigators found that Shonka sold at least 341 random source dogs to a registered research facility after obtaining the dogs through deception; acquired dogs from prohibited sources; provided dogs to the research facility without the required certification that the person from whom the dog had been acquired had been informed that the dog might be used for research purposes; and provided dogs to the research facility without having held them for at least five days. Through his attorney, Shonka denied wrongdoing. USDA spokesman Jim Rogers said that Shonka has a chance to respond in writing to the complaint. An administrative trial will be held, probably in Iowa, if Shonka contests the allegations and if a settlement isn't reached. Shonka faces fines of up to $2,750 per animal if found guilty of the regulatory violations. Case background: In March 2000 Shonka was operating a racing kennel at the St. Croix Meadows track in Hudson, Wise. and an adoption kennel from his home in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He also held a USDA Class B dealer license. According to information obtained by Sherry Cotner, a volunteer for the Greyhound Protection League and GNN, Shonka was acquiring greyhounds under the guise of his adoption program, then selling them to Guidant Corp.'s Rhythm Management Group, acardiac research lab in St. Paul, Minn. Cotner turned
the information over to the Wisconsin Division of Gaming and the USDA.
By June 20, Wisconsin investigators had traced 1,086 greyhounds on Guidant's
records directly to Shonka. For complete details ofthis complex case, see GNN Summer 2000, or write for a copy. [Ed.]
|