VANCOUVER -- A B.C. dog breeder is disputing claims by the B.C. SPCA after the animal welfare organization seized 38 miniature dachshunds from her property north of Kamloops.
Marisa Panter, the owner of Rainbow Dream Dachshunds, says she has contacted a lawyer and is appealing the seizure through the Farm Industry Review Board.
It comes after the B.C. SPCA followed up on a tip that the breeder wasn’t following its recommendations, which led to the seizure of 10 adult dogs and 28 puppies living in what the organization called "substandard" conditions.
In a phone interview with CTV News, Panter says she was given a 72-hour notice to build a facility to house the dogs, so they could accommodate one dog per pen.
Panter says there’s no way to get the proper supplies to the area in that short of a timeframe, due to local road restrictions.
"There’s no way we could get any supplies up here to build anything," Panter told CTV News. "Our road is at a certain axle…so you’re not allowed to haul big trucks up here."
Panter says she was also given a book to read that listed recommendations for the size of its kennels.
"They were pretty much treating us like a boarding facility not a breeder," she said.
She says because dachshunds are a social breed, they shouldn’t be left alone.
"They are a pack animal, they are supposed to be together. Putting a dachshund, one dog per run, takes away their socialization."
Eileen Drever, senior officer of protection and stakeholder relations for the B.C. SPCA, told CTV News they came across the animals in distress and that’s when they issued the list of recommendations.
"These individuals failed to follow our recommendations and as a result we applied for and were successful in obtaining a warrant to search, which was executed on the property," she said.
Panter says the B.C. SPCA’s claims that the dogs were living in "filthy" conditions with "excessive feces, high levels of ammonia and dangerous objects" are inaccurate.
"They also called the ministry in because of these conditions," Panter said. "The ministry has cleared our house for our four-year-old daughter, so if our house was in such distress, I would not have my daughter."
"There is no dangerous objects in any of our runs, unless you classified a pinecone as dangerous," she added. "One puppy pen had five puppies and a mom and the puppies were 6 1/2 weeks at the time, there was one little pile of poop on the puppy pad holder not even in the pen…there was one little pile in one pen and that was it."
Now, Panter says she has 14 days to contest the seizure.
"But they have no legal obligation to give them back to me, even if they were wrong," she said. "If it ends up going to court, they don’t have a legal obligation to give them back. They have every right to adopt them out before a court date."
Drever says the SPCA’s main objective is to help people and their animals.
"Our goal is not to remove animals all the time from individuals and we actually educate people and the majority of individuals that we speak with follow the recommendations," she said. "But unfortunately in this case that was not the case, so that resulted in the removal of the dogs from the property."
With files from CTV News Vancouver's Nafeesa Karim.
