BREEDERS REMAINING DOGS TO BE AUCTIONED

A dog breeder whose kennel was raided last month by federal agents will get out of the business Saturday with an auction.

The breeder, Dorpha Evans, will sell the remaining 212 pedigree dogs she had boarded at her kennel in Texas County, near Willow Springs, about 200 miles west of Cape Girardeau. The auction begins Saturday at 10 a.m.

On Jan. 10 officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. marshal's office raided a Shannon County breeding site operated by Evans and owned by Lee and Cheryl Hadaway.

About 200 dogs were seized by federal authorities and about 100 of the dogs were euthanized because of disease. The rest were adopted from humane societies in Cape Girardeau, St. Louis and Carbondale, Ill.

A USDA spokesperson, Cindy Eck, said the facility was raided because it wasn't properly licensed or disclosed to the federal government. Investigators involved in the raid reported diseased dogs and improper living conditions for the animals.

In an interview last month with the Southeast Missourian, Evans denied operating an illegal kennel. She said her dogs were moved to the Hadaway farm from her Texas County kennel while renovations were made. The USDA was aware and approved of the move, she said.

Cheryl Hadaway said Evans, the woman she calls mother, must sell her dogs because the federal government has targeted her.

"She's a 72-year-old woman, and they're railroading her," she said. "They stole $50,000 worth of dogs when they came in here."

Eck said this week that the USDA had no knowledge of the facility from Evans. And the auction will have little effect on their case.

"We have gathered our evidence and now we're going through it," she said.

No administration action has been taken by the USDA, Eck said. She said a report requesting charges hasn't been forwarded to the U.S. attorney's office in St. Louis. Whether the USDA seeks charges hasn't been decided, she said.

"We consider those things on the 20th of each month," Eck said of USDA action against Evans. "You might want to call back then."

Assistant U.S. attorney Dave Rosen said Thursday that they haven't received any new information since the raid last month. He said if the USDA wanted to pursue criminal charges, it would have to submit a report.

Sally Oxenhandler of the Missouri Department of Agriculture said they weren't preparing any action against Evans. She said the department believes Evans intends to get out of the breeding business with the auction.

"And we are willing to help them in any way to try to get them out of the business," she said.