The U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has announced that Hunte Kennel Systems and Animal Care Inc., a division of Hunte Corporation, the largest U.S. wholesaler-distributor, and also an international broker, of puppies, has agreed to pay a $56,632 civil penalty.
Hunte is paying the penalty to settle charges the company illegally sold an insecticide meant for use on cows and pigs as a flea and tick treatment for dogs. Hunte is said to have repackaged and relabeled the insecticide, Prolate/Lintox-HD, and sold it under the name Paramite.
This scam is said to have violated the federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act.
The Hunte Corporation breeds and raises puppies and also buys puppies from puppy mills and sells them to pet stores including to the notorious Petland and has been named as a co-conspirator in a scheme to sell sick puppies from puppy mills to the public.  The puppies that even Hunte believes are not well enough or in good enough condition for sale to pet stores are sold thru newspaper ads, the internet or at flea markets. Hunte also sells puppies for research and sends them to other countries for other uses.
Go here for a look at the USDA’s many citations of Hunte for violations of the Animal Welfare Act regulations. (Look at the Breeder and Dealer categories, under H for Hunte Corporation and T for The Hunte Corporation.) Â
Take a look here at an investigation of Hunte Corporation by the Companion Animal Protection Society.
In 2003 Hunte was cited by the Missouri Dept. of Natural Resources for dumping dead puppies on its property in violation of the state Clean Water and Waste Management law.
In 2006 60 puppies were killed in a truck fire, and in 2007 94 puppies were jeopardized in another truck fire. Â The puppies were caged in Hunte trucks transporting them to pet stores for sale. Hunte trucks have been caught without air conditioning in the summer and with no windows. Â
Go here and here for information about franchisees that have brought suit in Ohio for what they claim are Petland and Hunte’s sleazy, fraudulent business practices. Â
Hunte boasts tens of millions of dollars in revenues each year from the sale of 90,000 or more puppies as well as pet supplies such as the faked "flea and tick treatment" for dogs. The company’s headquarters is located in Goodman, Missouri, and it is there that Hunte has its facility for puppies. Puppy mills are a big business in Missouri, and the very agency charged with regulating breeders and dealers like Hunte, the USDA, has approved millions in Rural Development loans for the company in the past decade to expand its business. The business that profits from the misery of dogs trapped in puppy mills or bred and sold for research or worse.    Â
Just goes to show the low life forms that are in the form of humans that promote, pedal and create misery for the almighty greed of money. Hell will welcome them all on judgement day from puppymill breeders to Hunte Corp. executives and all those who cause misery to any form of life.
Since you mentioned the CAPS investigation of Hunte, you may be interested to know that our undercover employment investigation of Kathy Bauck, one of the largest USDA licensed dog brokers in the country, revealed her use of Prolate Lintox. Bauck and her employees dipped pregnant and nursing mothers and dogs with open wounds into a very large “tub” of this solution. Dogs’ eyes were immersed and employees did not have protective goggles or gear. Undercover footage showed a terrified, struggling German Shepherd being dragged by a rope in and out of the tub.
One of the cruelty charges against Bauck was for the use of Prolate Lintox. Bauck was convicted of four counts of animal cruelty and torture. Sadly, the judge vacated three of the charges, and she received a minimal sentence despite having been on probation and work release for a prior plea bargain. USDA has terminated her license, but she has filed a motion for reconsideration of their decision, which is unlikely to be allowed. She should be without a license by mid February. Her online business, which has dropped to almost nothing, will still be allowed unless a state licensing law passes during this legislative session.
Bauck was at one time a booking agent for The Hunte Corporation. She booked and picked up puppies in a route that started in North Dakota and went through Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri. She and Hunte had a falling out.
For more information on the Bauck investigation and case: http://www.caps-web.org
Deborah Howard
President
Companion Animal Protection Society