Andrea Rosebrock 
See Update – 11/28/08 – Puppy Mill Owner Wants Video Suppressed – VIDEO
See Update – 10/10/08 – More on Kathy Bauck, MN Puppy Miller Charged with 9 Felonies- VIDEO
Facing nine counts of felony animal cruelty, torture, and practicing veterinary medicine without a license, Kathy Jo Bauck who owns Pick of the Litter Kennel in New York Mills, MN, will none the less get to keep her kennel of 1000+ dogs due to a loophole in the law.
Unbelievable!!!
“She has been cited for inadequate record-keeping, animals with swollen limbs, missing skin, animal fighting with each other inside her facility, unsafe and unsanitary housing. You name it, she’s been cited many times by the USDA,” Jill Fritz, Minnesota Humane Society Director said.
Bauck has been under fire time and again and still continues to operate. Now she’s been charged with events that took place in April and May of this year, documented, photographed and videotaped by then kennel worker, Jason Smith of the Companion Animal Protection Society, including;
- On April 22, Smith said he saw an injured female white American bulldog limping with wounds to both cheeks, with the left side being the worst. Smith said he was directed by Bauck to treat the dog’s left cheek with “Clorox water”. Smith obeyed and said the dog kept pulling away as he dabbed the solution on the wound. Smith said that by April 26, the dog’s cheek appeared to be infected and was bleeding again.
- On May 10, a pregnant English springer spaniel gave birth to a litter of nine puppies; two died at birth. Bauck told Smith she later treated the puppies’ mother with a shot of penicillin/genocin.
- On May 5, Smith said he found a pregnant bichon giving birth to puppies. One was already dead and another was hanging from its umbilical cord. Smith reported the births to Bauck. Smith said Bauck treated the mother with a shot of calcium sulfate to “aid contractions,” then reached inside the mother to pull a puppy out – without washing her hands.
- Bauck and two female kennel workers worked to pull more puppies out. The three women used surgical clamps to remove the puppies, which resulted in one puppy’s tail being torn off. Bauck continued to pull tufts of puppy fur from the mother until she allegedly tore the rear leg off the dead puppy. On May 9, the mother dog was found dead in her pen. Her hindquarters were still covered in afterbirth.
The complaint also illustrates dozens of cases of dogs suffering from wounds, swollen eyes, missing flesh, bloody sores, seizures, and emaciation while at the kennel — and receiving either improper medical treatment or none at all.
Smith took field notes every day he worked there, highlighting cases of abuse and maltreatment.
And the loophole in Minnesota law that will allow this piece of trash to keep all her dogs; Minnesota law does not allow local animal investigators access to facilities regulated by the USDA.
Of course the claims innocence, saying that animal rights groups are out to get her. Wonder how she explains all the photographed and videotaped evidence to cruelty and abuse??
As I said, this is not the first time she’s been under fire for animal cruelty and practicing veterinary medicine without a license.
On May 19 she pleaded guilty to one charge of practicing veterinary medicine without a license. As part of a plea deal, four similar charges and one animal cruelty charge were dismissed.
She served 10 days in jail with 110 days stayed, and was fined $900 and given two years of probation.
The state Board of Veterinary Medicine also took action against Bauck in October 2006. The board ordered Bauck, who has never held a veterinary license, to stop performing surgeries and vaccinating dogs or puppies.
The action was taken after the board determined that Bauck performed neutering, hernia repairs and ear crops on dogs she owned, according to the order signed by Dr. John King, the board’s executive director.
You can see the Cease and Desist Order – HERE. It details the charges against her including the ‘vet medicine’ she practiced illegally.
The Board of Veterinary Medicine received a complaint against Bauck alleging she had performed surgical procedures on puppies and dogs she owned, as well as dogs she sold to others. Minnesota Statute section 156.12, subd. 2(d) does not prohibit “the owner of an animal from caring for and administering to the animal belonging to the owner.” That exception from veterinary licensure requirements does not to authorize an animal’s owner to perform surgical procedures on it, the order states.
Bauck does not deny performing the surgeries but insists she owned the animals.
“It used to be that you could perform surgeries on dogs if they were your own,” she said. “The state doesn’t read it that way anymore so I won’t do it anymore. I’ve complied 100 percent and I don’t have a problem with that … I never did anything to intentionally hurt any of the animals.”
The order states the dogs involved were not hers, which Bauck says is not true.
“They were not sold, they were given away,” she said. “Because I still had the papers, I assumed I still owned them. The state got (the case) because I spayed a dog I was giving away. It got an infection and I paid the veterinarian bill. That’s the end of it.”
According to the order:
- In 2002, spayed a female Papillon puppy she sold in December 2001. It continued to go into heat the following four years. In June 2006, the owners presented the dog to a veterinarian, who performed surgery on the dog and found uterine horns.
- In 2002, she spayed a rat terrier at approximately 6 months old. The surgery site never properly healed, according to the order, and it died at about age 2.
- Spayed a golden retriever puppy in 2003. The dog continued to go into heat in 2006 owners brought the animal to a vet who determined the dog had a serious infection at the site.
Upon performing exploratory surgery, the vet determined the dog still had a uterus and an ovary.
In the case of the Papillon and retriever, Bauck admits the dogs both ended up with infections, “But I took responsibility for both of those and I paid the vet bills.”
She denies the dogs were left with reproductive organs after the surgeries.
“That’s just impossible,” she said.
As for the rat terrier, she claims the dog died of poison, “Either rat poison or antifreeze.”
The order also said Bauck performed ear crops, tail dockings, cesareans, hernia repairs and dew claw removal on dogs or puppies she owned. Under this order, she will no longer be allowed to perform any of these procedures on her dogs or anyone else’s.
This information comes from a 2006 Fergus Falls Journal article.
This woman needs to be shut down in the worst way!! In trouble again and again, animal abuse, torture, wanna-be vet… piece of trash!!
Now Minnesota proposed legislation that will change their current laws and if the Breeder Bill passes, it will give investigators access to hold breeders accountable for their actions. Hopefully it won’t be too late for many of the poor dogs under Bauck’s ‘care’.
This lady and her killers is got to be stopped somehow there is no way anyone can keep up with that many dogs and puppys the state got to be able to tell her not to go over this many if so we are going to take them all I don,t care if there is loopholes are rigth is rigth and wrong is WRONG take the animals and put her out of business I would like to see the feed bills vet bills and everything …..jeffrey
See Update – 10/10/08 – More on Kathy Bauck, MN Puppy Miller Charged with 9 Felonies- VIDEO
Somebody better put her out of operation before the vigilantes do. I’ll be more than happy to give her a bath in a giant vat of flea and tick killer and no, she won’t be wearing protective eye gear. Without doubt, she is masochistic. I’m surprised she hasn’t graduated to satisfying her needs by preying on children or the elderly. I’m sure that day will come. Kathy, whatever you do, DON’T visit NH.
You are all a bunch of retards! Kathy is a great person and i have never seen her intentionaly cause her animals harm! I used to work there and i don’t feel that you should be trying to shut her down! She loves her animals and you all should be ashamed! Why don’t you go after a kennel that actually needs to be shut down? Kathy has not done anything to deserve everything you are putting her through!
Yes, Vonnie – I can see that Kathy cares about her animals – that’s why they live in filth, are dipped in poisons with eyes & mouth wide open, are left to heal gaping wounds on their own without proper medical treatment or even cleaning, puppies are ripped apart & mothers who have just given birth are left to die. Sounds like a woman only a mother could defend, a mother like Ma Barker.
This is ridiculous!!! This women should not be allowed to ever own animals again. She says she didn’t mean to cause any of her animals harm but yet they walked around with open wounds and such! Who in their right mind thinks its ok to put bleach of all things on an open wound! These kinds of things make me so angry! Maybe someone should repay the favor of her type of “animal care” to her! It is just so wrong and she acts as though she did nothing wrong!
Vonnie, one look at the videos and reading the accounts undoubtedly show that these dogs are in poor condition and are suffering due to lack of proper care and even abuse. This operation should be shut down, and Kathy Jo Bauck should be shoved into a crate and allowed to live that way so she can feel the same suffering she has put these dogs through. Of course, any punishment will not make up for the suffering of each individual dog in her so called “care”. These poor creatures have no choice but to accept whatever she felt like doing to them. So sad.
Where are these vigilantes, please in the name of God, kill this piece of trash, someone do something to this low life, Im sosooso mad
Ms. Bauck is evil, delusional and in need of a lobotomy. This is about greed for the almighty dollar and not the welfare of the innocent animal. In order to prevent future
animal cruelty crimes new legislation must be inacted.
We are working hard in Texas to make our animal laws stronger and sentencing tougher for these criminals.
These individuals hone their craft of deception and
double talk and then indoctrinate family members to continue the abuse.
“I heard that the HSUS is taking complaints from people who bought sick puppies from Kathy Bauck, here is their website: http://www.humanesociety.org/puppymillstory”
She needs to be hang! Maybe give her the same treatment as she did to those thousands of dogs/puppies she done, before her death sentence to hanging