Chippewa County (WQOW)- State inspectors are recommending a Chippewa County woman lose her license to sell dogs. More than 60 dogs were found on Katherine Henry's property in the town of Howard. That's nearly twice as many as she was licensed to have. They were discovered by firefighters in the midst of a fire that destroyed her home last week. WQOW looked at search warrant documents filed by investigators and spoke with the Chippewa County Sheriff's Department on Monday.
Overwhelmed by the smell of urine and feces, investigators had to wear special breathing equipment to go inside the shed. The smell was so bad, one deputy vomited.
"There were a number of things identified by the state inspectors that they felt were in violation of compliance orders that are in place for people that have kennel licenses," says Captain Gene Gutsch with the Chippewa County Sheriff's Department. "How often the kennels were cleaned, access to water and food, air quality in the building."
State investigators found no water, unclean conditions; cages too small to house that many dogs, and no ventilation system at all inside the building, other than a single window that was left slightly open.
But the sheriff's department says even though they found problems, they are still working with Henry to get her up to code.
"Our issue is one of working towards complying to improve the conditions for the dogs as it is certainly not our intent nor do we readily have the resources or ability to seize 63 dogs and provide proper care for them," Gutsch says.
Although the county is working with Henry, the state is still recommending she lose her license. We tried to get Henry's side of the story Monday, but when we arrived on her property, we were told she would not be speaking with us on advice from her lawyer. No decision has been made on whether to recommend charges against Henry.
