Breeder: Jenny and Barb Gabel
Address: 21301 County Road 8500
City, State Zip: Newburg, MO 65550
Year: 2014
USDA License: 43-A-4560
Date of CAPS Investigation: 2014-08-27
Note: The Gabels use The Hunte Corp, 43-B-0123, as their broker.
The weather at the time of investigation: 95 degrees Fahrenheit and sunny.
Breeds: Yorkshire Terriers, Shih Tzus, Golden Retrievers, Shiba Inus, Old English Bulldogs, Maltese, Huskies, Poodles, Mini Australian Shepherds, and designer (mixed) breeds.
There were more than 250 dogs on the premises at the time of investigation.
Building 1
When I arrived at the kennel, I spoke with the owner, Barb Gabel, about a male adult Standard Poodle. After I asked her about other dogs, she and her husband led me to their whelping building. On the way, we passed an enclosure that had a rectangular receptacle of very green algae water (Sec 3.10 Watering).
The whelping room, where there were three rows of stacked mesh cages, had a strong urine and feces odor. There were active flies and gnats (Sec 3.11 Cleaning, sanitization, housekeeping, and pest control (f) Pest control). The accumulation of fecal matter signaled it had not been cleaned up in days (Sec 3.11 Cleaning, sanitization, housekeeping, and pest control (a) Cleaning of primary enclosures). The second row of cages had a mixture of hair and fecal matter matted to the mesh bottom of the cages (Sec 3.11 Cleaning, sanitization, housekeeping, and pest Control (a) Cleaning of primary enclosures). There was a significant amount of fecal matter on the wall below the second row of cages (Sec 3.11 Cleaning, sanitization, housekeeping, and pest control (a) Cleaning of primary enclosures). One cage had a large screwdriver jammed into the bottom to keep it from falling out (Sec 3.6 Primary Enclosures (a)(x) Flooring).
The very young puppies were soaking wet from an earlier spray-cleaning of the kennels. Barb had to wipe them down with a towel. (Sec 3.11 Cleaning, sanitization, housekeeping, and pest control (a) Cleaning of primary enclosures). In the last cage on the bottom row there was an English Bulldog puppy that was coughing (Sec 2.4 Attending Veterinarian and Adequate Veterinarian Care (b)(2) Veterinarian care).
Building 2
Barb then led me to a group of 10 outside kennel runs. One kennel had four adult dogs housed in a cage that did not provide minimum space requirements (Sec 3.6 Primary enclosures (c)(i) Space requirements):
Another cage had a metal fencing “patch” held in place with a zip tie. The wires on this patch were poking inward toward the dogs (Sec 3.1 Housing facilities, General (c)(ii) Surfaces).
Building 3
Barb and her husband then led me to additional outdoor kennels. To show me a miniature Aussie, Barb grabbed the dog by the back of the neck and lifted it with this grip (Sec 2.131 Handling of animals (b) (1) Handling).
At the time, there were three dogs in a large run to the side of these outdoor kennels. The only water available to them was a kiddie pool holding only a small amount of brown dirty water (Sec 3.10 Watering).
A kennel holding two Huskies did not have a wind or rain break; while there was a small roof to the right of the kennel, there were no sides to the kennel (Sec 3.4 Outdoor Housing (b)(2) Shelter from the elements).
