Breeder: Stoltzfus, Ivan
City, State Zip: Narvon, PA 17555
Year: 2005
USDA License: 23-A-0037
Date of CAPS Investigation: 2005-05-05
Approximately 10 dogs. Breeds: Akita, German Shepherds
This property had several groups of outdoor cages arranged in a row on a large concrete slab. The first group contained three cages, each about eight feet long, four feet wide, and five feet high, with a wooden dog house –five feet tall and four feet wide and long, accessible by a metal doggie-door – at the rear of each cage. The cage closest to the owner’s house contained two Akita; the other two cages contained two German Shepherds.
The pens and dog houses were about a foot above the concrete on wooden stilts. The floors were made of treated wire, and the walls and ceilings were made of untreated thin-gauge metal wire (3.6(a)(2)(xii)-Primary enclosures) with wooden beams at their edges. Plastic and metal water dishes were on the floorings. No food dishes were visible in the cages; the inside of the dog houses were not viewed.
Next to this first group of pens was a single cage containing two Akita. The cage was about eight feet long, eight feet wide, and four feet high. It had two wooden dog houses at its rear that were each about four feet long, four feet wide, and five feet high. Both of the Akitas lacked six inches of room from their ears to the tops of their cages (3.6(c)(1)(iii)-Primary enclosures).
The cage had a treated-wire flooring and untreated, thin-gauge wire for its walls and ceiling that was covered in rust (3.6(a)(2)(xii)-Primary enclosures) (3.1(c)(1)(i) Surfaces). The paint on the wooden beams at the edges of the cage was peeling (3.1(c)(2)-Surfaces). Rusty door hinges and a rusting lock held a door in place on one cage wall (3.1(c)(1)(i)-Surfaces). The painted surfaces of the dog houses were peeling, scratched, and torn and had dirty build-up on their surfaces (3.1(c)(2)-(Surfaces) (3.1(c)(3)-Cleaning).
Next to the Akita cage were two adjacent, unoccupied cages. They were partially collapsed; one side of a cage touched the ground, and the wire walls were covered in rust (3.1(b)-Condition and site).
Further from the owner’s house and adjacent to the empty cages were two additional cages, each about eight feet long, four feet wide, and five feet high. One cage housed a German Shepherd, the other an Akita. Both of the dogs lacked six inches of space from their ears to the tops of their cages (3.6(c)(1)(iii)-Primary enclosures).
The thin-gauge wire walls of the pens were untreated and rusting (3.1(c)(1)(i)-Surfaces), and paint was peeling from the wooden surfaces of the pens and dog houses (3.1(c)(1)-Surfaces). A corner of the Shepherd pen had its wooden frame bowed inward towards it door; wires from the floor were broken off and leaving sharp points protruding into the pen. Wires were pulled away from the bottom wooden beam of the floor on the same side of the cage as the owner’s house, and about five feet of the wire was broken off and jutting into the pen. Near the door, the wire gapped several inches from the beam, allowing the Shepherd inside to fit its paw through (3.1(a)-Structure, construction) (3.1(c)(1)(ii)-Surfaces). The door hinges and locks were rusting (3.1(c)(1)(i)-Surfaces). A similar cage, unoccupied, was located on the farthest end of the kennel property.
