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Buckeye Dog Auction has reportedly been sold to Bylerville Enterprise, 15760 Newcomb Road, Middlefield. Sources say the first auction is set for April 21.
Bylerville Enterprise does not have a listed telephone number, and attempts to reach the owners were unsuccessful. The owner of the 7.79-acre parcel is listed in Geauga County records as having a Georgia Road address.
Former owner Ervin Raber of Baltic said he will help the new owners get the auction under way, under a new name.
"I think it will be good for the community," Raber said "It will definitely bring revenue into the area."
He said the auction is the only one of its kind east of the Mississippi River and draws up to 500 buyers per auction from six states.
"It brings a very good market into the community for people who do have dogs," he said. "It's not any different than a horse or cow sale. It's a cleaner operation than that."
Raber said he got out of the business after Holmes County commissioners recommended he do so, because of the furor among some animal rights groups since it began in Millersburg in 2003.
"It was just getting to be too much of a fight," he said.
Animal rights groups had complained that the animals had been held and bred in inhumane conditions called "puppy mills." Protesters frequented the auctions - held seven times a year - and had organized a petition drive to get the auction's bond revoked.
"We worked hard to get this stopped in Holmes County," Martha Leary of Star-Mar Rescue, Wooster, said. "Unfortunately, we didn't have a clue that we were only sending the problem elsewhere."
Leary, a former Humane Society director, said dogs have become an easy and profitable cash crop, selling at auction from $25 to $5,000. She said the purebreds are bred to a different breed, creating what she called "designer dogs."
Geauga County Humane Society Director Sharon Harvey said she is concerned about the news.
"Puppy auctions produce nothing but trouble," she said.
Harvey said she believes that most local breeders treat their animals humanely, but that the Amish tend to see dogs as livestock rather than house pets.
"I believe the Amish culture has a different perspective on the subject," she said. "With our large Amish population, there is a lot of breeding going on as businesses."
Harvey said her agency works closely with Amish breeders to make sure their animals are treated well.
"We have seen a few cases of cruelty, but we've seen about the same number of cases within the non-Amish community," she said.
Harvey said her main concern with the auction is that it will encourage more breeders, who will be more concerned with the quantity of animals they produce than the quality of the breeds.
A side effect, she fears, will be an increase in the number of strays that her agency has to deal with. She said she is worried that people will come to the auction, take pity on the dogs, and buy them to prevent them from being destroyed.
After a short time, the new pet owner may discover physical or behavioral defects and abandon their dog, she said.
Raber said the concerns are unfounded, because there are on-site inspectors at each auction, including a veterinarian, an inspector from the American Kennel Club and one from the United States Department of Agriculture.
"The quality of animals is great," he said. "If something comes in that's not up to par, it is pulled before the auction. The anti-group tries to make it look bad. ... This is regulated harder than a restaurant."
DRyder@News-Herald.com
BScott@News-Herald.com
