SPCA raids 'horrific' Lehigh County kennel

EMMAUS, Pa. - SPCA agents raided a Lehigh County dog kennel yesterday afternoon and found hundreds of animals, from hamsters to horses, crammed in every corner of the dilapidated property.

Twenty agents with the Pennsylvania SPCA entered Almost Heaven Kennel near Allentown after a two-month undercover investigation revealed the owner was selling sick dogs, SPCA officials said.

What they found was a zoo of horrors: monkeys, miniature horses, swans, turkeys, a pig, and an estimated 700 dogs and several dozen cats living in squalor.

Agents estimated that there were 800 to 1,000 animals, making the raid almost certainly the largest in state history.

"It's horrific," said Angela Messer, a veterinary technician with the Pennsylvania SPCA. "The numbers are astronomical. It's a sin this was allowed to continue on this way."

The stench of ammonia and feces drifted onto a busy highway alongside the property: a patchwork of unkempt houses and broken-down outbuildings, some with gaping holes in the roof. A sign on the road advertised pet grooming, boarding and breeding.

Agents said that dead guinea pigs had littered the ground between the outbuildings, and that they had found 65 animal carcasses in a freezer. Small dogs were crowded shoulder to shoulder in double-deck kennels, and larger breeds, including Great Danes and St. Bernards, were housed four to six in an outdoor pen. Inside one house were dozens of dogs, cats, parrots, chickens and hamsters, some roaming wild and others stacked in cages stuffed in every room, agents said.

Most had no food or water and were covered in their feces, according to the agents.

Kennel owner Derbe Eckhart faces 500 counts of animal cruelty and fines of up to $2,500 per violation on allegations he failed to provide sanitary housing and denied animals veterinary care, said Elaine Skypala, chief program officer for the Pennsylvania SPCA.

"Every place he was keeping animals was unsanitary," she said, adding that the SPCA would seek to shut down the kennel.

Agents were negotiating the fate of the animals last night with the owner, but said they would remove at least 56 dogs and cats that needed immediate medical care for respiratory illnesses, skin conditions and severe wounds.

Eckhart, who answered his phone during the raid, told a reporter that he was "not talking to anyone," and referred calls to his lawyer. Eckhart's attorney, Jason Berger of Philadelphia, did not return a call seeking comment.

SPCA vets gave intravenous fluids to six severely ill animals at the site, including a dehydrated guinea pig and two dying puppies. They could save only one of the days-old puppies.

Agents said they would remain on the property overnight, if necessary, to protect the animals.

In August, the kennel, which is licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, had 508 dogs at the property on Chestnut Street, state records show.

State dog wardens also were on the scene yesterday, but officials said there would be no immediate action regarding Eckhart's kennel license. The kennel received a clean inspection report in August.

"There is no final determination on our actions," said Chris Ryder, an Agriculture Department spokesman. "He was given a license in 1999, but those records no longer exist. Since this administration came in in 2003, he had a kennel license in good standing and no violations to warrant revocation."

Pennsylvania SPCA agents said they believed many of the poor conditions - the mounds of feces and drains clogged with excrement - had existed at the time of the last inspection.

Eckhart has had run-ins with state and local authorities dating back 20 years, and has been convicted at least twice of animal cruelty, according to published reports.

Area rescuers said they were familiar with Eckhart, alleging that he had often dumped sick and injured dogs on them.

"Rescuers call the place 'Almost Hell,' " said Bill Smith, founder of Main Line Animal Rescue in Chester Springs. Several years ago, Smith said, he helped save a boxer with a broken back and has picked up several starving standard poodles that he said Eckhart could no longer breed.