MUNCIE - The owner of a rural facility that officials called a "puppy mill" has been charged with 59 counts of animal cruelty.
Arlene Hoover's Nebo Road facility was raided by police and animal control officers in March after complaints she was keeping 59 Chihuahuas and Miniature Pinschers in a small shed.
Photos taken by officers show that the dogs' cages were deep with moldy feces. Some dogs had severe dental problems and others had large tumors.
County Prosecutor Richard Reed said he filed 59 charges against Hoover because he was so disgusted by the dogs' living conditions.
"I got angry looking at the pictures," Reed said. "They've been inside those little tiny cages their whole lives, and they're not puppies."
The 59 charges of cruelty to an animal - a class B misdemeanor - were filed in Muncie City Court.
According to police reports, dogs were in stacked cages. "Under each cage was a tray approximately two inches deep ... completely filled with feces. The feces had been in the trays so long that mold had begun growing."
Reed said the operation could be characterized as a puppy mill, where dogs are raised in great numbers for commercial sale purposes.
Hoover could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.
Although animal welfare groups are looking for foster homes for the dogs, Reed believes the dogs might have to be destroyed because they've spent their lives in cages.
"I'm told they will probably have to be destroyed," Reed said. "They've never been socialized."
Rebekah Carr of Helping Animals Receive Mercy (HARM) - one of the humane groups that helped officers remove the dogs on March 25 - said the dogs, currently at the Randolph County Animal Shelter, might be placed in foster homes.
Carr said that people who wanted to take care of the dogs - possibly only until the outcome of Hoover's trial - should contact HARM at 254-HARM or the Unconditional Love Foundation at 287-9043.
