Kennel owner convicted of drowning puppies

Author:: BMTN Staff
Publish date:: Nov 9, 2013

The Associated Press reports a Northfield woman has been convicted on twelve counts of animal cruelty for drowning puppies.

A Dakota County jury ruled Friday on the charges against 62-year-old Dayna Bell, owner of Bell Kennels and Farm.

The criminal complaint said witnesses saw Bell drown the puppies in buckets of water or a swimming pool with cinder blocks tied to their necks.

Dakota County sheriff's deputies found 10 small dogs in a freezer after searching Bell Kennels in September of 2011.

The Pioneer Press reported in July 2012 that Bell told police she had drowned injured animals and she didn't know how the small dogs wound up in her freezer.

Defense attorney Bob Miller had planned to argue that the dogs were not pets, but "commercial animals," covered by different laws.

Bell is scheduled for sentencing Jan. 14. Miller says an appeal is likely.

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The lawyer for the woman accused of drowning puppies at her Sciota Township dog kennel says he will challenge the constitutionality of the law she is accused of violating more than a dozen times. Dayna K. Bell, 61, owns Bell Kennels and Farm, where three former employees say she drowned puppies in a bucket of water or by tying a cinder block to the animals' necks and throwing them in a swimming pool.

The lawyer for a Dakota County dog breeder says the puppies his client allegedly drowned were not pets. He maintains "commercial" animals are subject to a different set of rules than pets. Dayna Bell faces 14 felony and two misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty.

A woman is facing 16 charges of animal cruelty after allegedly abusing and killing dogs at her business, Bell Kennels and Farm. The Pioneer Press reports three former employees report seeing Dayna Kristine Bell hurt animals.