Located outside of the home at 3515 South Walnut Street is a former school bus with "Adopt a Lab Rescue and Adoption" painted on the outside.
Officials are removing the animals for unfit living conditions, but further information is scarce as Muncie Animal Shelter Director Phil Peckinpaugh told The Star Press he reached an agreement with the owner of the facility to voluntarily surrender the animals by not speaking to the media and by agreeing to not press charges.
Peckinpaugh also agreed to keep the media off the property, which was enforced by the police on the scene.
A reporter on the scene said a foul smell from the home was very strong. One official on the scene said, "it's like a dungeon in the basement."
“We got complaints on it,” said Joshua Williams, administrator of the Delaware County Health Department. “Conditions are pretty bad. It smells really bad and they are over capacity in the number of animals.”
Officials are using as many as three trucks to load and remove the dogs from the property. They are removing both adult dogs and puppies. Not all of the dogs are labs.
Peckinpaugh did say the owner purchased the dogs from a "broker."
Adopt a Lab has come under the scrutiny of authorities in the past.
In August 2010, the Muncie Animal Shelter raided the South Walnut Street facility, removing or causing the operators to remove at least 30 Labrador retrievers. Then shelter director Bob Jessee said the dogs were kept in “unfit” conditions, including up to 21 hours a day in crates without access to food or water.
Authorities also said the group was operating without proper zoning.
But the group got a big vote of approval from the city-county board of zoning appeals, which in September 2010 gave the group a variance to operate.
(Star Press - Nov 8, 2012)
