Members of the Caledonia legislative and licensing committee voted not to renew Ravann LaCuran’s kennel license because of alleged illegal activity involving her mother Debra Gray and zoning violations.
Gray, former owner of Orphan Kanines, was charged in November
with seven counts of misdemeanor bail jumping and two misdemeanor counts of illegally obtaining a prescription for allegedly assisting Veterinarian Mary Pratt with illegal surgeries on animals in the basement of LaCuran’s grandmother’s home at 4747 County Road H.
Gray’s charges are on top of the 171 counts of animal cruelty and keeping animals in unsafe conditions she’s facing after nearly 100 animals were rescued in May from the Orphan Kanines facility in Caledonia and two residences.
Those cases have not been resolved.
During a legislative and licensing committee meeting held Monday, LaCuran admitted to knowing that her mother and Pratt were performing surgeries on cats, despite the fact that her mother was ordered not to posses animals.
LaCuran argued during the committee meeting that she doesn’t own the property, her grandmother does. But LaCuran lives on the property with her five dogs. She asked what the surgeries had to do with her owning the dogs and told the committee members that the cases involved her mother, not her.
“The license goes with property,” said Kevin Wanggaard, a member of the committee and village board. “On that property illegal things were happening and she knew about that. So that’s in our purview of renewing the license.”
Caledonia village attorney Elaine Ekes said that the case was relevant to her having the kennel license and that they were also running an illegal business out of the home that did not comply to the village’s zoning laws.
“To have a license is a privilege,” Ekes said. “If there are violations of law relating to animal welfare this committee has the right to ask questions especially when it happened within the last year. This is a relevant area of inquiry.”
LaCuran told the committee members that “she’s keeping her dogs” whether or not she has a license since her dogs don’t have anything to do with her mother or grandmother, according to the meeting minutes.