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Helen/Dog Matter

Helen, your neighbor is running a puppy mill. Those dogs are constantly howling and breaking loose because they're under extreme stress. Plenty can be done about it if the right authorities are contacted, although sometimes persitence is required until you get the light to go off over the right person's head. If no one local to you will do anything, here's some contact info that should help:

Mary Bender

Director, Bureau of Dog Law

2301 N Cameron Street

Harrisburg, PA 17110

Email: mabender@state.pa.us

Ph: (717) 787-4833

In the PA Statutes under Title 3 (the Agriculture Code), 3 P.S. Section 459-211 gives the PA Dept. of Agriculture the authority to revoke or suspend a kennel license or out-of-state dealer license and seize or require forfeiture of the dogs. Keep track of the incidents, calls you make, responses you get, etc., so the case is well documented.

Less than a year ago, Gov. Rendell overhauled the Dog Law Enforcement section of the Department because of things like the deplorable state of kennels (puppy mills) in PA and the weak laws that allowed miscreants like your neighbor to fester. Here's a link to the Dog Law Enforcement's website:

http://www.agriculture.state.pa.us/agriculture/cwp/view.asp?a=3&q=126843

Thanks, and keep caring!

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