Largest Animal Rescue in Tennessee County History Saves 250 Dogs

Peggy Olea, an animal rescuer who has five dogs of her own, has devoted her life to ensuring that animals are not abused or harmed by unethical breeders and pet owners. Two weeks ago Olea pretended to be in the market for a puppy, and visited a farm home in Bethpage, Tennessee, where someone had told her a breeder had more than 300 dogs for sale.

Olea was met by the woman who owns the farm, Irene Meuser, who presented her with several puppies to choose from. The puppies were soaked in urine and feces, covered with animal lice, and had severe skin irritations. "She brought out a little puppy," Olea said. "I think it is dead now. It was a poodle puppy. We only touched it for a second and our hands were covered in animal lice. We had to shower when we got home."

Olea immediately reported Meuser to county officials. "I was appalled at the conditions these animals were living in," said Olea. "I had to do something." Last Friday over 100 people, including officials from the U.S. Humane Society, veterinarians, county officials, and volunteers, gathered together at Meuser’s home to remove hundreds of mistreated dogs and shut her operation down permanently. Meuser was charged with six counts of misdemeanor cruelty, after learning that she had been keeping more than 500 animals at her home and 15 to 18 dogs had died last week.

Laura Bevan, the Southeast regional coordinator for the Humane Society, said that the living conditions where the animals were being kept were some of the worst she has ever seen. Animal rescuers had to wear ventilator masks on their faces to block the foul smells in the puppy pens, most of which were unventilated. "The situation here is very, very poor," said Bevan. "I don’t know how the animals have breathed in this air." Sheriff’s Maj. Don Linzy said that the stench was so powerful that some deputies had to rush outside to vomit. "The dogs lived in those cages 24 hours a day," he added. Most of the dogs had some kind of ailment or disease, and some were found dead.

According to Bevan, in some cases there were up to five dogs sharing small cages and forced to relieve themselves in cramped quarters. Meuser bred and sold primarily small-breed dogs, including Dachshunds, Shih Tzus, and Pomeranians. Her 14-acre farm also houses hundreds of other animals, including chickens, goats, turkeys, ducks, and cats. Veterinarians and rescue workers set up tables in Meuser’s cluttered yard to diagnose cats and puppies before removing them from the property to place them in shelters for rehabilitation.

Sheriff Bob Barker said that investigators had counted about 350 dogs on the farm earlier this week, but when the team arrived to remove animals, they were able to recover only about 250 dogs. "After she was alerted to what was happening, she removed about 100 dogs from the premises," Barker said. "The Sheriff’s Department is in the process of recovering those dogs, as well, to avoid the spread of potential disease." Some of the animals on Meuser’s farm suffered problems ranging from broken teeth and bone injuries to skin infections and parvo, a highly infectious canine disease that causes dehydration and intense diarrhea.

Barker said that two weeks of planning and coordinating with regional animal rescuers had to take place before the teams could show up at Meuser’s home, so that gave her time to sneak some animals out. Rescuers crated each animal individually and stacked the crates in a white trailer, then took the crates to a pet clinic and makeshift shelter in Gallatin. At the shelter the animals will be cleaned up, treated, and cared for by volunteers until the courts make a decision about what to do with Meuser.

Meuser, 69, has operated as an animal breeder for several years, and could possibly reclaim the animals if she meets the demands of the Sumner County court system. Animal control authorities visited her home in 1996 and confiscated more than 280 cats and small-breed dogs, acting on a tip from a citizen-filed report. According to Linzy, that probe resulted in a lot of recommendations that Meuser didn’t follow. "Basically it was in the same condition 10 years ago that we saw" Friday, the sheriff's major said.

As a result of the investigation, Meuser faces six counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty, each of which could carry a maximum penalty of 11 months and 29 days in jail. One count was issued for each of the three buildings where the dogs were kept. The other three charges were filed because of three animals that were in particularly bad condition. Because of the number of animals taken, "many more counts" are possible, Linzy said.

Speaking to a reporters Saturday, Meuser said that she’s been accused of animal cruelty "four or five times" since the early 1980s, but the accusations just made her angry. "I was ready to quit, and they made me so damn mad that I stayed," she said. Meuser admits that some of her dogs needed help, but she couldn’t put her old dogs to sleep. "If they are fed and watered and warm, it's better than being dead," she said, adding that although they were allowed to run outside from time to time, "most generally, they stayed in their cages. That's the way they wanted it."

When authorities came and took her animals away 10 years ago and told her she had to clean up her act, Meuser said, she built one brick building to replace another old trailer that had housed caged animals. But she changed little else. "I'm not ashamed of it, and I will not apologize for keeping my old dogs and not killing them," Meuser said.