4446 Route 247 in Gorham, NY, the approved site for the proposed large scale, puppy mill.

If you would like to see this stopped, voice your opinion to the Gorham Town Planning Board here. Please be firm in your opposition, but nice. Meanness will trivialize us and make them go ahead with it. You can also sign this petition here.

– Kenn

GORHAM, NEW YORK — Dog breeders who recently received approval to open a breeding facility on Route 247, north of the intersection of Lake to Lake Road, violated federal regulations at their current location in Seneca County, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture documents.

The USDA cited Jolene Martin with failing to provide veterinary care at the dog breeding facility in Varick, Seneca County. Specific findings involved a boxer “with a lip that appeared split open and swollen,” a female husky “recently in a fight” who had “multiple injuries to the right ear and left paw,” and dirty empty whelping boxes with “an accumulation of rodent droppings in the whelping boxes … adjacent to enclosures housing young puppies and their mother.”

The USDA documented that between Nov. 23, 2010 and Jan. 5, 2011, “a male Shitzu was matted with feces in mats around the feet and long nails,” several dogs had dirty ears emanating strong odor and a Maltese “was observed with dried blood on its back fur that originated from the dog’s tail which was split open.”

Mary Anne Kowalski, a volunteer with the Seneca County SPCA and the New York State Humane Association, said her organizations are familiar with the breeding operation of Curtis and Jolene Martin because of the violations that considered “among the worst” in the state.

A recent USDA inspection dated Nov. 8, 2011 shows no complaints or violations at the breeding facility the Martins operate at 4520 Route 89.

Reached by phone earlier this week, Curtis Martin said he didn’t want to talk publicly about their plans to build a dog breeding facility on their property at 4446 Route 247. Martin couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday.

The town Planning Board unanimously granted the Martins a special use permit and site plan to build a facility that could house anywhere from 200 to 600 dogs, depending on the size of the animals. Planning Board Chairman Tom Harvey said the Martins presented detailed engineering and design plans that address environmental issues and adhere to federal specifications for the operation, which must be licensed and monitored by the USDA.

When citing the Martins with violations at their Seneca County facility, which the document said had 349 dogs and 124 puppies, the USDA said “it does not appear that the facility has enough employees to carry out an acceptable level of husbandry for these animals. This needs to be addressed for the welfare of the animals.”

Kowalski said the operation is family-run and, as far as she knows, has no outside employees.

Town zoning officer Gordon Freida said since the special use permit was granted, emails and phone calls have been flooding in from all over the country with strong reactions to the permit. “We have gained national attention,” he said. Comments he has received include: “How could you do this?” and “How could you let this happen?

Freida would still have to issue a building permit pertaining to the structure, planned to be about 8,400 square feet, on the 20-acre lot that has two barns and house on it. He said the dog breeding facility, like other businesses ranging from marinas to dog kennels and veterinary hospitals, needed a special use permit because the town does not list them as permitted uses. Freida said he didn’t know whether the town could flat-out ban a dog-breeding operation.

Jennifer Baxter, a Gorham resident who volunteers with local animal-welfare groups such as Lollypop Farm (Humane Society of Greater Rochester), said she is very concerned about her town housing a “puppy mill.”

“They are designed to maximize profits and commonly disregard the physical, social, and emotional health of the dogs,” said Baxter.

Melissa Henchen, president and founder of Going to the Dogs Rescue in Perry, Wyoming County, a shelter that covers western New York, said a dog breeding facility also raises fiscal concerns. In addition to the facility not paying dog licensing fees like owners of pets do, these facilities contribute to increasing the population of unwanted dogs who end up in shelters, she said. While dog breeders make money off selling the dogs to pet stores, the dogs may ultimately end up in shelters because either they can’t be sold or the new owners discover they can’t afford to keep the dog or the dog isn’t the right fit for their household.

Towns and counties that house dog breeders can also be stuck with bills to address complaints and expenses tied to a potential shutdown of such a facility, with the welfare of hundreds of dogs needing to be addressed.

“They’re not only not making money off the deal … on top of that they will have to pay more money,” Henchen said.

One crooked stitch runs from ear to ear over the back of Hule’s shaved scalp. Another traverses her forehead before sealing shut her left eye.

But if her post-operation pictures are any indication, this doe-eyed, golden brown cocker spaniel is going to be all right.

Two weeks ago, Hule (pronounced “oolay,” which means “rubber” in Spanish) lay in a Cancun, Mexico veterinary hospital, the victim of a machete attack in Bonfil, a nearby town. After three hours of surgery, Hule was left with thick sutures and only one eye.

Now the 2-year-old dog is in Toronto, where she will receive more surgery to dislodge chunks of skull from her brain — and also a new home.

On Wednesday night, her flight arrived at Pearson airport, where she was met by a representative from CANDi, a British Columbia-based organization that saves and rehabilitates stray dogs and cats in Mexico and the Caribbean.

“I can’t even tell you how absolutely adorable (Hule) is,” said Doris Wohl from the airport. “She’s only got one eye, she’s a little nervous, naturally, but she’s very alert.”

CANDi, or Cats and Dogs International, had been operating a temporary animal clinic in Cancun at the time of the incident.

The details of the attack remain sketchy. According to CANDi founder Darci Galati, the dog’s 21-year-old owner, who was drunk and enraged that his wife had left him, took his anger out on Hule, lacerating the animal’s head and leaving it to die in his front yard.

A CANDi animal clinic volunteer by chance discovered the dog lying in a pool of blood.

Despite the machete slashing, Galati said Hule has not shied away from people.

Now in Toronto, the cocker spaniel will be put up for foster care as she undergoes neurological testing at a local veterinary clinic. But while the dog’s cross-continental journey is reaching a conclusion, Wohl said CANDi is not ready to place Hule with a new owner just yet.

“There is a bit of a road to recovery,” she said.

If you would like to know more about Hule or have interest in adopting her, contact Doris Wohl at 416-817-3946

GLENDALE, AZ – A miniature schnauzer is credited with saving his owner’s life.

“You’re thinking you’re going to die,” said Bethe Bennett from her hospital bed at Banner Thunderbird Medical Center with her dog still by her side.

Last Friday, Bennett fell in her kitchen, broke her femur, and passed out.

“I would still be there,” she said. “Nobody was coming to check on me until Monday or Tuesday.”

Bennett’s service dog, Danny, licked her face until she awoke.

“I asked him to get me the phone,” she said.

Danny hasn’t picked up the phone with his teeth in years, she told ABC15, but he still remembered what to do after some coaching.

“It took him a few minutes,” Bennett said, “he was going back and forth.”

Danny eventually brought Bennett the phone, which she used to call 911.

“I never dreamed he would save my life.”

Bennett, who writes books about her dogs under the penname Bessie Mac, said she now plans to write future tales about Danny.

As nearly anyone who has adopted a dog or cat from a shelter can attest, there’s something special about a rescued pet; it’s as if the animal senses he’s been given a second chance at life. That’s certainly the case with Juno, a Belgian Malinois who was rescued from a shelter just days before she was to be euthanized. But since coming to live with her family in Alcoa, Tenn., Juno has taken on the role of rescuer to four-year-old Lucas Hembree.

Lucas suffers from Sanfilippo syndrome, an inherited, metabolic disease caused by the absence or malfunctioning of an enzyme needed to break down long sugar molecules. As the disease progresses, children lose the ability to speak, walk and eat. The disease also causes severe neurological damage that leads to aggressive behavior, hyperactivity and seizures.

“The most catastrophic thing parents hear when they learn their child has this disease is that there’s no cure or treatment available,” says Lucas’ father, Chester.

Unless that changes, Lucas isn’t expected to live past the age of 15 and may be in a vegetative state by the time he is eight. Realizing that every moment is extra precious, Chester and his wife, Jennifer, want their son to experience as much as he can while he still has the capacity to enjoy it.

So when the disease started to take a toll on Lucas’ joints, Chester looked into getting a service dog to keep Lucas steady when he walked. “I was told that a service dog would cost at least $15,000, and that Lucas wasn’t a good candidate because of his deteriorating abilities and his behavior,” Chester says. “I refused to accept this answer.”

A combination of prayer and persistence led Chester to Juno. “I came across a posting about her on a rescue group’s website,” he says. “I had the feeling in my gut that I had to go see this dog.”

The whole family made the two-hour trip to meet Juno, who was being held at an east Tennessee shelter. “She was emaciated, and was days away from being euthanized,” Chester says. “She had been surrendered to the shelter because her previous owners didn’t understand the Belgian Malinois.”

Fortunately, Chester did. He’d gotten to know and love the breed while working as a law enforcement officer years earlier.

“I used to help with the training of police K-9s, and our dogs were Belgian Malinoises,” he says. “I loved their desire to work and their ‘never quit’ attitude.” In addition to being a popular choice for police dogs, the breed is often used in combat. In fact, it’s believed that the dog that helped Navy SEALs take down Osama bin Laden was a Belgian Malinois.

But while the breed has proven its prowess on patrol and in combat, Chester needed to be sure Juno would be a suitable service dog for his little boy.

“I put her on a loose leash and she walked with me and never pulled,” Chester says. “Next came the Lucas test. They took to each other immediately, like kindred spirits.”

The Hembrees brought Juno home and showered her with love and affection.

“I wanted to make sure she had plenty of time to adjust to the family before I started the formal training,” Chester says. Yet, from the beginning there seemed to be something instinctive about their relationship. One day, Chester noticed Juno circling Lucas while he was in his wheelchair. “She was whining and nudging him with her nose,” Chester says. “I checked his oxygen levels and they were very low.” After giving him oxygen, Lucas returned to normal and Juno greeted him with licks and affection.

“That’s when I knew she had the ability to pick up on his neurological changes,” Chester says. “Now she alerts us when Lucas is about to have a seizure or if his oxygen levels drop really low. She has saved him several times.”

Juno has become a literal shoulder for Lucas to lean on when walking, and a calming influence when he’s agitated. And while Chester makes sure that Juno gets time off, he says that it’s hard to get Juno to leave Lucas’ side. “You don’t see one without the other close by,” he says. “It really feels like it was meant to be.”

Jeremy and Katherine Medlen lost their dog, Avery, after he was picked up by Fort Worth animal control officials.

FORT WORTH, TEXAS — A landmark local court decision last year allowing people for the first time to seek “sentimental value” damages for the loss of their pets has been appealed to the state’s highest court.

A petition was filed last week asking the Texas Supreme Court to review this ruling, which has drawn praise from pet owners and concern from veterinarians, kennels and dog sitters statewide who fear this opens the door for pet owners to sue them for sentimental value rather than market value if something happens to their dog.

“This sweeping change in animal law gives pet owners the potential for a greater damages recovery for the loss of their pets than is available for the loss of a relative or close human friend,” according to the appeal filed by Fort Worth attorney John Cayce, a retired 2nd Court of Appeals chief justice. “Although dogs are beloved companions, they should not be placed into this intimate familial category as a matter of public policy.

“While the Court may be understandably sympathetic to the plaintiffs’ loss of pet companionship, it should defer to the Texas Legislature to create a remedy for it.”

At the heart of this case is the death of Avery, an 8-year-old Labrador mix who belonged to Jeremy and Katherine Medlen and their children.

Two years ago, spooked by a late-night thunderstorm, Avery escaped from his family’s Fort Worth back yard and was picked up by city animal control. The Medlens found him at the shelter the next day, but through a series of slip-ups and errors — from not having enough cash on hand to take him home that day to having to wait until the vet could install a microchip in Avery’s ear — their dog was added to the euthanasia list and put to sleep. There had been a “hold for owner” tag on his cage.

The Medlens took their case to court, saying they hoped to prevent something like this from happening to anyone else’s pet.

In a groundbreaking court ruling in November, the 2nd Court of Appeals in Fort Worth ruled that a pet’s value is greater than its price tag. The court overruled a 120-year-old case in which the Texas Supreme Court ruled that pet owners could recover only the market value of their pets.

“Dogs are unconditionally devoted to their owners,” according to the ruling. “We interpret timeworn Supreme Court law … to acknowledge that the special value of ‘man’s best friend’ should be protected.”

Randy Turner, the Fort Worth attorney who is representing the Medlen family in this case, said he’s disappointed that the case is being appealed.

“For the first time in Texas history there is a legal incentive for kennels, groomers, veterinarians and anyone else who cares for animals to take good care of them,” he said. “It will be interesting to see whether this ‘negative precedent’ out of the Fort Worth Court of Appeals that is currently binding on 12 counties in North Texas gets overturned, or if it is affirmed and becomes binding law on all Texas courts.”

He said he has heard that the legal bills for this appeal are being paid by special interest groups, such as veterinary medical associations, who hope to see the ruling overturned.

Cayce, who represents Carla Strickland, the former shelter worker named in the case, said that it would be inappropriate to comment on the case beyond what was filed in court and that, “like any other attorney-client communication, our fee arrangement with her is confidential.”

Elizabeth Choate, director of government relations and general counsel for the Texas Veterinary Medical Association, based in Austin, said she couldn’t comment on the pending litigation or fee arrangement. But she said the case concerns a lot of people, such as veterinarians, kennel workers, even dog sitters.

“We certainly sympathize with the plaintiffs in this case and understand how the family” would seek justice, Choate said. “But it’s easy to see how this case could impact a lot of people” and how “unintended consequences” could create problems for those in the animal business in Texas.

“We obviously don’t agree with this ruling,” she said.