Please respond immediately and forward as appropriate.
Ingham County, Michigan, residents Karen Cochran, 54, and Walter Krause, 62, face charges stemming from authorities' reported September discovery of 33 severely neglected dogs languishing amid deplorable conditions on the former's property, which apparently doubled as the defendants' alleged puppy mill. According to news sources, prior official visits to the site found as many as 95 dogs living amid their waste there. The animals seized last month were said to have been covered in parasites and oozing infections and to have been deprived of dental care.
Cochran may be no stranger to authorities: According to a July 22, 1995 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) press release, an Ingham County resident named Karen Cochran was once ordered by a USDA judge to cease and desist from violating the federal Animal Welfare Act. The same order apparently revoked the woman's animal dealer license after she had reportedly been accused of failing to provide animals with adequate housing and sanitation.
The responsibility of prosecuting Cochran and Krause falls upon the office of Stuart Dunnings, Ingham County's prosecuting attorney.
Please remind Mr. Dunnings that the vile pet-trade industry thrives on its puppy mills, that these facilities generate massive animal suffering, and that profit-greedy puppy-mill owners—when they are finally brought to justice—should never be dismissed lightly.
Please respectfully ask Mr. Dunnings to work with the court—should the defendants be found guilty or enter into a plea deal on these charges—to incarcerate them, order them to undergo a psychiatric evaluation and subsequent counseling at their personal expense, and bar them from having anything to do with animals for, at the very least, the entire term of any probation they may be given, per Chapter 750.50.6 of Michigan Compiled Laws.
Impolite
correspondence works against our efforts:
The Honorable Stuart Dunnings III
Ingham County Prosecuting Attorney
303 W. Kalamazoo St., 4th Fl.
Lansing, MI 48901
517-483-6397 (fax)
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William McMullin | Volunteer