56 sick animals seized from 'horrible' pen

The smell alone was ominous enough as investigators rolled into the Almost Heaven kennel Wednesday afternoon to search for sick and neglected animals: a gag-inducing stench of feces and decay detectable from ...

[pissed]

is that woman Millie Altomare an idiot? ah... their picking on him boo hoo ;( she should be thrown in jail for saying that haha

[Linda G]

People like Millie who defend creeps like Skip only ever see one area, I'm sure. If she goes there for grooming, she probably drops the dog off and picks it up - let her go back into the kennels and see and smell the dying dogs!
As for Orlando Aguirre - if he isn't getting paid off to pass these kennels when they are obviously violating the standards of care set forth by the Dept. of Agriculture, my name is Sarah Palin!

[Pachacutec]

This monster is being "picked on?" Maybe if he'd straighten up, obey the law, and stop abusing animals, he wouldn't be "picked on" anymore. Ya think? If he has such a long and unhappy history of mistreating animals, how about putting HIM in a very little cage for a very long time with very little food or water? If the smell of that place was enough to make people who are used to investigating such situations gag, can you imagine what it was like for the poor animals who had to live in that filth?

[Gailin]

This man has been in business for so many years. And to the neighbor who lived across the street and heard the animals cries, why didn't you help if you knew how bad it was? Please people, we all need to bug our state legislature, even though many of them don't care about animals, and ask them to pass kennel laws, or any law pertaining to animals. Some people say "they are just animals"...so we should let them suffer then?

[dying allentown]

Negotiating with this guy after all his violations is BULL. It's the state saying they don't care enough to get REALLY involved. The inspector that passed the place in August should be under investigation, like does his bank account swell after visiting places like this and passing them. Anyone in the area that drives passed there can smell it from the highway

[no voice]

Drove by their yesterday around 2-2:15 PM and saw a police car, people standing around, and someone video taping. I was wondering what the heck was going on. I thought is was some kind of auto accident scene. I was going to call the mc to see what was going on. I was shocked to read it on-line last night.

So what happened since August???? Did this guy think he was safe for a while and go back to old habits or what? For those of you that don't know, Upper Milford has been cracking down on some business' lately, mostly those that have small garages (work on cars). Upper Milford has been really hammering these guys unfairly, but then they let someone like this slip through the cracks. Upper Milford Township officials need to stop concentrating on just a few individuals and start to look at the BIG picture. I would sooner see this township go after someone who is being cruel to animals, then go after someone who has too many vehicles on their property.

Also, I met this girl a couple of years ago, she moved hear from out west. She had bought a puppy from somewhere, and then went on to get a dog from Almost Heaven. The older dog she got from Almost Heaven had parvo. The older dog ended up surviving, but it gave the puppy parvo, and the puppy died. I told her that this guy had a bad past, but coming from out of the area she did not know. I feel so sorry for these animals because they don't have a voice. Anyone who treats a defenseless animal badly is a very weak and sick individual.

[no voice]

Gailin wrote:

This man has been in business for so many years. And to the neighbor who lived across the street and heard the animals cries, why didn't you help if you knew how bad it was? Please people, we all need to bug our state legislature, even though many of them don't care about animals, and ask them to pass kennel laws, or any law pertaining to animals. Some people say "they are just animals"...so we should let them suffer then?

I'm not sure if you are familiar with this area, but it is off a major highway (RT 29). Almost Heaven (the house) sits only about 60 feet off the highway. How wide is a highway, maybe 40 feet? The houses and business on the other side sit further back. You might have 300 feet between properties and a major highway in between. There is so much road noise it may muffle out the sounds. People also tend to use their back yards because of less noise, which puts further distance in between and isolates neighbors. You should not blame the neighbors because you don't know if they called anyone or not. What if they did not know who to call and they called Upper Milford Township instead. What if UMT didn't do anything about the complaints. What if the neighbors were the one's who called about yesterdays events? We just don't know. What about the state that was their in August. Did the guy pay them off or what? The only one that should shoulder the blame is Skip, or whatever his name is. He should skip right to a prison cell.

[Sam]

This is disgusting. The kennel should be shut down!!!!! How can they let a person that isn't taking care of the animals continue operating a kennel. If this person cannot take care of that many animals, then why the heck does he have them. PA is turning into the worst state with puppy mills and that reflects on all of us in PA.

[Pachacutec]

"No Voice," I'm sorry that your friend had such problems with the dog she got from Almost Heaven. Sad to say, that happens all the time. Many people who get puppies from "puppy mill" operations, whether buying directly or from a pet store which gets its stock from puppy mills, often end up having to have their pet put to sleep because of numerous medical problems. The dogs from these places have been bred until they literally drop dead; the puppies more than likely aren't given shots and parasites spread rapidly through the kennels. And the guy running Almost Heaven is allowed to cut a deal? Unbelievable.

[Un-Named in Emmaus]

no voice wrote:

So what happened since August????.

What happened? He probably bought the inspector off. This place is nothing but a slum Puppy/Dog/Cat Mill.

Let me say, this person, Eckhart is nothing but garbage. He is very well known in pet abuse circles. I have had personal experience with some of his animals. He deserves to be SHUT DOWN, for good.
Here is a link to one of his other past charges.
http://www.pet-abuse.com/cases/8727/PA/US/

He has had people collecting animals that others are giving away, takes them, makes up false AKC records, keeps them in filth and sells sick animals.
His cats have had serious cases of ringworm, no veterinary care, Nothing....

Guess ALMOST HEAVEN may be an appropriate name for this dump... altho the animals have to go thru HELL to get to heaven from here..

[Driveby]

They should have shut this place down a long time ago. How many raids to they have to do for someone to shut it down? This is at least the second one in about 2 years.

[Shoveler]

It was "Almost Heaven" for these animals, good thing the law stepped in.

[Mike]

Like everythibng else in this world..........money determines fate. How can an inspection record indicate satifactory conditions, when a raid indicates the kennel must be shut down. Maybe if the inspectors were held accountable for their actions, some of this would stop. People hired to inspect these facilities NEED to be people who truly have the animals care as their TOP priority.

[Fred]

Caring for animals is a lot of work. But when you look at them only as a means to make money, it can go bad.

I think that the majority of dairy farmers set a good example in that they make money from the Cows, but they treat them very well. There is a respect for them I suppose.

This man did not respect the lives of his charges. He just wanted the dollars.

Then again, maybe he thought the Monkeys were going to care for the other animals?

[DOG LOVER PLEASE HELP]

Bureau Warden Orlando Aguirre this is who investigators need to investigate. why didn't neighbor especially after kutztown
animal death publicity not call someone !!!

[DO WEB SEARCH]

this owner's name keeps coming up again and again and again. 10 years ago when we adopted a puppy emmaus folks said "do not go there." 10 years and still this is ongoing.

[Stinalynn]

I bought a puppy from this kennel in Feb. 2006...he was bow-legged, and had a huge gash on his shoulder (the owner said his mother bit him...this wasn't a bite, it was gash...) My husband and I gave him a wonderful home, we loved him more than the world. But, he died in July 2007. He wasn't even two years old! I know it was from the treatment he got at this horrible place...it makes me cry thinking that my Montana was stuck there. We had him creamated and his ashes are on our fireplace. This owner should be LOCKED UP just like he did to these animals....

[clueless]

16 of the dogs are his pets? Come on. You mean 16 of them are worth selling.

[Annie]

I can remember that back in the 90's
there was a big problem with this guy.
Why in the world was he allowed to
continue this treatment on poor little
animals, these are God's creatures.
I agree with all who said that someone
was being bankrolled. This time they
need to shut the place down and send
the guy down the river!!!!!
Why would people even consider taking
their precious pets to this hell hole.

[clcjtn]

What a discusting story. It's hard to believe he was still able to run a kennel with a previous record of animal cruelty! What's up with that?? My heart aches for all these animals. I never knew you could "debark" a dog. That's got to be painful! His voice box should be removed!