Lawsuit over USDA's puppy-mill licensing in Iowa at a standstill in federal court
Steve Kruse's Stonehenge Kennels in West Point, Iowa, has been repeatedly cited for failure to provide adequate veterinary care, and the USDA suspended Kruse's license in 2023. The dog pictured here is one of those that federal inspectors alleged was in need of veterinary care. (Aerial photo courtesy of Bailing Out Benji. Inset photo taken by USDA inspector, courtesy of Bailing Out Benji)
A lawsuit alleging the U.S. Department of Agriculture has failed to enforce animal-welfare laws in the state of Iowa remains at a standstill while the litigants wait for a judge's ruling.
In September 2024, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals sued the USDA and then-Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, claiming the federal agency and former governor of Iowa violated the federal Animal Welfare Act by repeatedly renewing the license of Steve Kruse, an Iowa-based dog breeder. Kruse operates a large-scale breeding facility, Stonehenge Kennels in West Point, which has a long history of animal welfare violations.
The ASPCA claims the USDA routinely licenses dog breeders and dealers such as Kruse despite the agency's direct knowledge of practices that violate federal regulations or fall far below the standards required by the Animal Welfare Act.
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The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeks a court order that would force the USDA to void all current licenses issued to Kruse and his associates and prevent the agency from renewing them.
In response, the USDA has argued that any decisions as to whether to enforce the Animal Welfare Act through a license suspension or revocation fall within the discretion of the secretary of agriculture — Vilsack at the time of the Kruse case, and now Brooke Rollins of Texas.
By challenging past decisions to issue and renew licenses for Kruse and his associates, the USDA argues, the ASPCA is now seeking to 'override the secretary's discretion in licensing matters and impose its policy preferences on the secretary.'
According to the ASPCA, the USDA's own inspection reports detail 'horrific treatment of breeding dogs kept caged in Kruse's massive West Point, Iowa operation, which typically holds more than 700 dogs.'
The inspectors' reports document observations related to dogs limping and suffering from open, bleeding wounds; dogs with untreated eye infections or severe dental issues; painful fur matting; and a lack of veterinary care.
The USDA reports also allege Kruse poured hot sauce on one dog's open wounds to keep the dog from licking them, and housed other dogs in cages so small they restricted the animal's freedom of movement. The dogs also had fecal matter on their coats and in their food bowls, the USDA inspectors alleged.
During one inspection, Kruse was alleged to have thrown a bag of dead puppies at a USDA official – but he has continued to operate his dog-breeding business under USDA licensure.
The USDA has not filed an answer to the ASPCA's allegations, but in November 2024 sought a dismissal of the case. However, there's been no movement in the case over the past five months while the parties await a judge's ruling on that motion to dismiss.
In seeking a dismissal, the USDA claims the ASPCA lacks standing to sue the federal agency, arguing that the courts have only rarely held that individuals or organizations can sue for the unlawful regulation of third parties.
Citing past U.S. Supreme Court rulings, the federal agency claims an organization may not establish standing based 'on the intensity of the litigant's interest, or because of strong opposition to the government's conduct.'
The ASPCA has responded to that argument by claiming the USDA has 'previously relied on the ASPCA to assist with the rescue of hundreds of dogs when a previous associate of Kruse amassed so many violations of the Animal Welfare Act that the Department of Justice took the unprecedented step of seeking injunctive relief in federal court to halt that licensee's operation.'
That assertion is an apparent reference to Daniel Gingerich, an Iowa breeder who operated a puppy mill in connection with Kruse and who was cited for more than 200 violations of the Animal Welfare Act before the U.S. Department of Justice intervened and negotiated the surrender of more than 500 dogs.
Such cases have a direct impact on the ASPCA's ability to pursue its mission, the organization says, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars to assist with rescue and relocation efforts.
Court records indicate that in 2022, the USDA approved Kruse for a three-year license despite what the ASPCA now calls 'an extensive history of AWA violations' that included violations cited 'on the very day Kruse applied for a license.'
Throughout 2023, the ASPCA argues, the USDA observed numerous dogs with severe veterinary care issues, including injuries, diseases, or conditions that had not been treated. In addition, the USDA is alleged to have 'improperly approved' the licenses of two of Kruse's associates in Iowa, Brian Lichirie and Wuanita Swedlund, despite 'full knowledge of the relationship between the parties.'
That lawsuit claims that despite the Animal Welfare Act's clear prohibition against issuing more than one license to a dog dealer, Lichirie and Swedlund each hold their own license while operating kennels that are populated by dogs owned by Kruse.
Technically, such arrangements are prohibited by the USDA since they can result in 'puppy laundering' –- the process of routing dogs from a serial violator to a different licensee with a relatively clean record, in order to facilitate sales to retailers in the rapidly growing number of jurisdictions that prohibit the sale of dogs sourced from questionable operators.
The ASPCA claims the USDA wrote to Kruse nine years ago, in 2016, to inform him that federal law required him, Lichirie and Swedlund to operate under a single license.
When Kruse failed to take corrective action, the ASPCA claims, the USDA continued to renew his license and never took any steps to revoke the licenses of Lichirie or Swedlund.
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