Thirty-two dogs are finally getting help after being rescued this week from a Farmington, Iowa, breeding facility where puppies were "covered in fleas," with shelter workers able to see the fleas crawling on them before they even picked the animals up, according to Sandy Brown, director of the PAW animal shelter in Fort Dodge that is now caring for the dogs. Some dogs were kept in a bathtub. Others were left in a sweltering garage. The kitchen was too filthy to drink from.

This never should have taken as long as it did. Federal inspectors had been blocked from entering breeder Wuanita Swedlund's property since December 2024, even though she had already racked up more than 25 documented violations of the Animal Welfare Act since getting her license in 2023, including untreated injuries, feces-covered enclosures, and dogs left without water. It took a federal court order and a lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Justice before inspectors could finally get inside and rescue these animals.

The 32 dogs are now recovering, but their rescue shouldn't be where this story ends. Swedlund is also named in a separate lawsuit accusing her of "puppy laundering" — allegedly holding her own license so dogs from a serial-violator breeder could be funneled through her kennel and sold as if they came from a clean operation.

A breeder who blocks inspectors for ten months and racks up dozens of violations should never get another chance to own a dog. The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Justice have the power to make sure Swedlund doesn't get one.

Sign the petition to demand Wuanita Swedlund's dog breeding license be permanently revoked — before more dogs suffer the same neglect.