Butler Township approves breeding kennel, sets hearing on animal protection law
BUTLER TWP.— Retiree Ron Reis said he and his wife regularly hear “the barks, whines, and howls” from neighbor Alvin Graber’s farm at 978 Clarendon Road.
But the Butler Township Planning Commission Thursday night said that couldn't stop them from granting the breeding facility a special use permit.
The township will require Graber to obtain a kennel license from the county treasurer for the permit to remain valid.
To deal with potential kennel problems, animal rights groups from around Branch County asked the Butler Township board to pass an “Animal Control and Protection Ordinance,” drafted and proposed in February 2022 by the groups with the help of Prosecutor Zack Stempien and Sheriff John Pollack.
The Butler Planning Commission scheduled a hearing on the ordinance at 7 p.m. Dec. 11.
Planning Commission Chairman Chris Parker told the meeting, based on its attorney’s opinion, the commission could only decide the land use and not the business operation.
Graber moved onto the farm in July with his family from Hillsdale County and are raising calves on the land in a larger barn.
Graber told the board he has 10 female dogs that were bred before the move.
“I’m working on an exercise pen where you can let the dogs out,” Graber said, adding the kennel will remain around 70 degrees with adequate water. “It will be cleaned out two or three times a week.”
The building already permitted by the county is for a portable 12-by-30 foot structure, 60 feet from the property line, 260 feet off Clarendon Road.
Reis’s wife Sherry questioned the commission, “Don’t you care about the dogs that are going to be put in there, that are going to have to live their lives in a cage?”
The township, by requiring a kennel license, allows the sheriff’s lone animal control officer, Ernie Baker, the right to enter the property to enforce any state law or the proposed ordinance.
“This operation is breaking my heart and driving my husband crazy," Sherry Reis said.
Jan Nageldinger from the humane society and Anna Keim from Bloom, a nonprofit animal advocacy and humane education group, spent almost two years drafting the template law with the sheriff and prosecutor.
Both attended the township and planning commission meetings.
The proposed township ordinance was developed after animal rights groups asked for a county-passed animal protection ordinance that was more detailed than state statutes.
Stempien said the model ordinance was designed for each township to pass since an attorney general’s opinion in Ingham County said such a countywide law was beyond the authority of a commission to pass.
Prior story New animal control law creates controversy: Here's what we know
No township has adopted the model law.
Stempien said the ordinance tried to balance concerns and owner’s rights after complaints about lack of food and water for animals, along with poor housing, especially in the winter months.
The prosecutor explained, “Another key topic is what they call puppy mills.”
Adequate care in the proposal includes “Sanitary conditions, proper exercise, and veterinary medical attention in order to maintain an animal in a state of good health.”
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Graber said he provides vet care and vaccinations for his dogs and puppies.
The ordinance broadly defines animal cruelty as including “failing to provide adequate food, water, shelter, and sufficient exercise; confining the animal in spaces that are too small for humane treatment.”
Contact Don Reid: dReid@Gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Butler Township approves kennel
