Tuesday, July 7, 2009
State levies landmark penalty against Lehigh County kennel operator
A former Lehigh County dog breeder is facing a $152,900 penalty for failing to meet the conditions of his state license revocation.
The Department of Agriculture fined Derbe Eckhart, owner of Almost Heaven kennel, $100 a day for each of the 216 illegal dogs in his possession after the period allowed to disperse the dogs. He also was charged for illegally obtaining 17 dogs while his license revocation was on appeal.
It is only the second time the agency has issued a penalty against a kennel operator since the passage of the amended dog law last October. The first penalty of $15,000 was assessed against Eckhart in June for acquiring 30 additional dogs in violation of his suspension agreement.
The Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement refused Eckhart's new license application on Feb. 3 based on his failure to comply with kennel regulations and for prior convictions on animal cruelty charges, according to a letter sent to Eckhart on July 2 informing him of the penalty.
Eckhart, who once had more than 800 dogs on his Emmaus property, failed to file a timely appeal of the license revocation. Under the new dog law, once the 30-day appeal period had expired, he had ten days to divest himself of the dogs but did not do so. As a result Eckhart was penalized for every dog over the 25 allowed without a license. His penalty covered the seven-day period between the time the appeal had expired and when the state raided his kennel and seized the 216 dogs.
Eckhart's attorney, Kevin Fitzgerald, did not return a call seeking comment. A spokesman for the Department of Agriculture said Eckhart is appealing the fines.
Changes to the state dog law enacted last October enabled the state to move swiftly to revoke a license of a problem kennel operator, remove dogs if necessary and assess penalties for non-compliance.
Eckhart returns to court later this month to face the first of two new rounds of animal cruelty charges. A pre-trial hearing is scheduled for July 21 on cruelty charges stemming from an October raid by the Pennsylvania SPCA that exposed filthy and overcrowded living conditions for hundreds of animals on the property. Additional cruelty charges were filed last week by the PSPCA which seized 22 sick and injured cats and dogs one day after the state removed the 216 dogs.
