Puppy Mill Broker Caught in Insecticide Scam

Posted Dec 23, 2009 by lauraallen

The U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has announced that Hunte Kennel Systems and Animal Care Inc., a division of Hunte Corporation, the largest U.S. wholesaler-distribu tor, and also an international broker, of puppies, has agreed to pay a $56,632 civil penalty.

Hunte is paying the penalty to settle charges the company illegally sold an insecticide meant for use on cows and pigs as a flea and tick treatment for dogs. Hunte is said to have repackaged and relabeled the insecticide, Prolate/Lintox- HD, and sold it under the name Paramite.

This scam is said to have violated the federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act.
The Hunte Corporation breeds and raises puppies and also buys puppies from puppy mills and sells them to pet stores including to the notorious Petland and has been named as a co-conspirator in a scheme to sell skick puppies from puppy mills to the public. http://www.animallawcoalition.com/companion-animal-breeding/article/713. The puppies that even Hunte believes are not well enough or in good enough condition for sale to pet stores are sold thru newspaper ads, the internet or at flea markets. Hunte also sells puppies for research and sends them to other countries for other uses.

Go to http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_welfare/inspection_list.shtml for a look at the USDA's many citations of Hunte for violations of the Animal Welfare Act regulations. (Look at the Breeder and Dealer categories, under H for Hunte Corporation and T for The Hunte Corporation. )

Tak a look at http://www.caps-web.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=169&Itemid=207&report_id=147 an investigation of Hunte Corporation by the Companion Animal Protection Society.

In 2003 Hunte was cited by the Missouri Dept. of Natural Resources for dumping dead puppies on its property in violation of the state Clean Water and Waste Management law.
In 2006 60 puppies were killed in a truck fire, and in 2007 94 puppies were jeopardized in another truck fire. The puppies were caged in Hunte trucks transporting them to pet stores for sale. Hunte trucks have been caught without air conditioning in the summer and with no windows.

Go to http://www.animallawcoalition.com/companion-animal-breeding/article/620 and http://www.animallawcoalition.com/companion-animal-breeding/article/621
about franchisees that have brought suit in Ohio for what they claim are Petland and Hunte's sleazy, fraudulent business practices.

Hunte boasts tens of millions of dollars in revenues each year from the sale of 90,000 or more puppies as well as pet supplies such as the faked "flea and tick treatment" for dogs. The company's headquarters is located in Goodman, Missouri, and it is there that Hunte has its facility for puppies. Puppy mills are a big business in Missouri (http://www.animallawcoalition.com/companion-animal-breeding/article/1118), and the very agency charged with regulating breeders and dealers like Hunte, the USDA, has approved millions in Rural Development loans for the company in the past decade to expand its business. The business that profits from the misery of dogs trapped in puppy mills or bred and sold for research or worse.