Dog breeder fights to keep kennel permit

Stuarts Draft dog breeder Kyle Brydge goes before the Augusta County Board of Zoning Appeals today to fight to keep a modified kennel permit.

He’s up against a 200-page state veterinarian report that details abuse at his former kennel and almost as many pages in typed and handwritten letters that have flooded the zoning office.

Three months after authorities seized 99 dogs from his Stuarts Draft kennel, Brydge asked last month to keep his special use permit.

He pleaded guilty in September to 102 assorted misdemeanor charges of animal cruelty, inadequate care and improper recordkeeping. Judge Michael Quigley Jr. ordered Brydge to pay $10,890 in restitution, limited the number of animals he could own to six companions and directed the county to “issue or amend” a special-use permit to accommodate that number.

The Brydges have contested the wording of Quigley’s order, which names the couple as respondents, but later refers only to Kyle Brydge regarding limits on the number of dogs he can own.

Before the zoning board is a 200-page state veterinarian report detailing flea infestations, blindness, dehydration, dental disease and malnourishment in the sometimes-pregnant, small-breed female dogs kept at Oak Leaf Kennel on China Clay Road.

Board members will consider that report, others from Augusta County animal control officers and prosecutors and more than 150 letters from across Virginia.

“Almost all of the health problems we saw could have been prevented with adequate husbandry and routine veterinary care,” states a letter from the Washington Area Rescue League, one of the groups that took in Brydge’s seized dogs.

“They were filthy, stunk of urine and feces, and were very matted,” says another from the Norfolk Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Some form letters are included in the board’s Brydge file, and about 250 names on a petition, but other more personal letters recount stories of dogs adopted after the seizure.

“Repeat crimes are the rule rather than the exception among animal abusers,” states a letter from a representative of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

The zoning board has also collected inspection reports from Augusta County animal control officers. Those records show Brydge had as many as 147 dogs during some inspections.

In July 2007, an officer investigated a complaint at Oak Leaf Kennel, found Brydge in compliance and noted the breeder’s intention to apply for a permit that would increase the size of his operation.

“Which we hate to see,” the officer wrote.

The zoning board denied Brydge’s request that year to increase his kennel to 300 dogs.

The couple’s current permit allows 106 dogs on the Brydges’ 17-acre property. A staff report provided to the zoning board recommends repeal of the permit.