BY LUTHER DORR, Mille Lacs County Times 

Another request to the Mille Lacs County Board by Kathy Johnson of the KARE rescue kennel/shelter in Bogus Brook Township was turned down by the board at its Nov. 3 meeting.

Johnson, whose license to run the kennel was revoked a week earlier by the board, had sought an amendment to kennel license standards.

She appeared before the Mille Lacs County Planning Commission at its October meeting, asking members to approve exempting rescue shelters from limits on the maximum number of dogs per acre.

The commission, while expressing sympathy to Johnson’s cause, voted 4-3 to deny the request, saying it would likely discuss the subject at a later date.

Johnson spoke during a public hearing at the Nov. 3 county board meeting, telling commissioners she now had only seven dogs instead of the 13 she had the week before.

She also said that the county’s animal control officer hadn’t returned calls as she attempted to trim the number of dogs, and that Princeton Veterinary Clinic had agreed to accept the remaining seven dogs so she didn’t have to euthanize them.

She told commissioners she hadn’t had any loose dogs for awhile. “You better come up with pictures,” she said.

The leash law isn’t being enforced by the county, she said.

“They’re concentrating on me,” she said. “Nothing is being done about other dogs running.”

Lynn Gregory of Brooklyn Park, an advocate for such shelters, told commissioners that in the three years Johnson had run her facility she had taken in 700 dogs.

Because there is no Mille Lacs County impound facility, Gregory said it would be in the best interest of the county to put together a new ordinance for such shelters.

After the hearing was closed a motion was passed unanimously to deny the request for an amendment to the ordinance.

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