Jewel Bond apparently continued to operate a kennel despite having her license revoked.
According to Ken Copeland, Newton County Sheriff, deputies have yet to find a license for the kennel.
In January 2006, Bond was fined $10,000 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for violations of the Animal Welfare Act, and ordered to suspend her AWA license for a year. In April 2008, she appealed the decision to the Eighth Circuit United States Court of Appeals, but the appeal was denied late that month.
Meanwhile, in July 2007, Bond’s kennel was raided and 127 animals were confiscated. She signed those animals over to the state, Copeland said, who cleaned the dogs up, gave them medical care, then sold them. After deducting expenses, the state’s agricultural department turned the remaining proceeds back over to Bond, the sheriff said.
“She went right back in and took care of them in the same way, or lack of care, I could say. She sure did,” Copeland said.
Bond has been charged with two counts of animal abuse, a Class A misdemeanor, after authorities seized a Bengal tiger and 209 dogs from her business, J.B.’s Precious Puppies.
The counts allege that Bond, 66, of Seneca, knowingly failed to provide adequate care for the animals.
Newton County deputies and representatives with the Humane Society of Missouri served a search warrant at 12250 Hwy. 43 in Seneca. The warrant turned up 209 dogs who were living in deplorable conditions, including having feces in their hair and in their living quarters. According to Copeland, many of the dogs were without water, and a veterinarian said some appeared to be dehydrated.
Meanwhile, a probable cause affidavit filed by Newton County Sheriff’s Department investigator Andy Pike, said authorities discovered skeletal remains of both adult dogs and puppies in dog food bags behind a building on the property.
According to Pike’s affidavit, the property had running water, but the pipes running to many of the cages were broken.
“The building that a lot of these dogs were in had a very strong smell of feces and urine,” Pike wrote in the affidavit.
A Bengal tiger was also discovered and a veterinarian from the Dickerson Park Zoo said the tiger was severely malnourished. The adult female tiger weighed 175 pounds, but was supposed to weigh 400, the vet said.
“The animal looked to be very malnourished,” Pike wrote. “The tiger had ribs that were visible showing through the skin. The tiger’s hair had mud and feces in it.”
