For over a decade, a single Iowa breeding operation has kept running no matter how many violations federal inspectors documented. Steve Kruse's Stonehenge Kennels in West Point, Iowa holds more than 700 dogs at a time, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) own inspectors have described "horrific treatment of breeding dogs kept caged" there, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). Reports allege dogs with open, untreated wounds, painful matting, and no veterinary care — yet the USDA renewed Kruse's license again and again.

When his license was finally pulled in September 2025, the USDA simply approved a new license days later for someone else at the exact same address — the same pattern the ASPCA says has let Kruse funnel hundreds of dogs through associates' names while he keeps control of the business. One of those associates, Wuanita Swedlund, is now facing 34 counts of animal neglect after inspectors found puppies had frozen to death and a judge ruled her dogs "suffered needlessly."

This isn't a paperwork problem. It's a system that lets known abusers reopen under a different name the moment one license gets pulled. The USDA has the authority to stop issuing licenses to anyone tied to an already-cited operation or property — it just has to use it.

Sign the petition to demand the USDA close this loophole now, before more dogs are laundered through it and more suffer the same fate.