A Honesdale woman has been fined $123.50 for selling puppies in public.
Anna Masker was found guilty of violating Pennsylvania Dog Law following a recent summary trial before District Magistrate Ted Mikulak.
“You cannot sell or give away puppies or dogs in a public place in this Commonwealth,” Pennsylvania Dog Warden Jim Rickert said.
According to Rickert, Masker was attempting to sell the three Border Collie-mix puppies outside the Dollar General Store in the Route 6 Plaza, Texas Township.
Rickert and Humane Society Police Officer Marlene Metzger responded to the location after receiving a call concerning alleged animal cruelty. The caller said the puppies appeared sick.
Asked if the 11-week-old puppies were sick, Metzger said they appeared to be typical “wormy puppies” in need of de-worming medicine.
Rickert said they originally warned the woman that it was illegal to sell or give the puppies away in a public place, and asked that she leave and take the puppies home.
“Our goal is to educate first,” Rickert said.
However, not long after they left, Masker sold all three puppies to a single buyer for $75.
The buyer, who turned out to be the same Wayne County resident who’d phoned in the animal cruelty complaint, turned the dogs over to the Dessin Animal Shelter to be placed for adoption.
Metzger said all three puppies have since been adopted out to good homes.
As to how often they respond to similar calls, Rickert said, “All of the time. And that’s what we really need to make people aware of, that it is a violation of the dog law.”
According to state dog law, it is “illegal” for certain persons to transfer dogs.
“It shall be unlawful for any person to buy, sell, offer to sell, transfer, barter, trade, raffle, auction or rent a dog at any public place in this commonwealth other than a kennel licensed pursuant to this act, or a dog show, performance event, or field trial sponsored by a recognized breed or kennel association or transfer by a rescue network kennel within its own network or to another rescue network kennel. If a purchase, sale, transfer, barter, trade, raffle, auction or rental of a dog occurs at or on the premises of a kennel, the transaction shall be unlawful unless one of the parties to the transaction is an employee, volunteer, or other person acting as an authorized representative of the kennel.”
