A Millersburg, Ohio-based auction house, that has sold farm and exotic animals has been barred from conducting business or exhibiting animals without a license following a federal court order.

A consent decree comes after repeated violations of the Animal Welfare Act by Mount Hope Auction during multiple inspections conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture since 2022.

A civil complaint filed in September against Mt. Hope Auction alleged that it placed animals in danger and violated the AWA during its three-day, Mid-Ohio Alternative Animal and Bird Sales which it held three times a year.

Each of these auctions featured thousands of animals and included more than 200 domestic and species such as sheep, rabbits, parrots, bobcats, red kangaroos, giraffes, Egyptian fruit bats, and sloths. Endangered species such as ring-tailed lemurs were also included in the auction.

The USDA denied the company's license renewal due to failures during relicensing inspections and a refusal to schedule a third inspection. 

A press release from the Department of Justice from December 12 stated that Mt. Hope Auction had failed the first and second relicensing inspections and did not schedule a third and final inspection. 

At the time of this filing, Mt. Hope Auction had been cited for 69 AWA violations in less than two years according to the release. These violations included "failure to provide veterinary care to sick or injured animals".

The examples of such violations were described in the press release as:

  • A calf unable to stand with its legs splayed in an unnatural way, which a member of the public stated had been that way since the previous day.
  • Asian antelopes and cattle that were severely emaciated to the point that their ribcages, spine vertebrae, and other bones could be seen.
  • Sheep and exotic cattle with feces on their hind legs
  • A fox with eye discharge
  • Birds with feather loss
  • A pheasant with a bleeding wound on its head and its neck matted down from blood drainage, appearing very lethargic with little to no reaction to its surroundings.

Investigation into Mt. Hope Auction, conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture, also revealed that enclosures housing animals were unsafe in multiple ways, unsanitary, improperly sized, or did not provide enough air. 

Further investigation revealed that rabbits were not provided enough food or water. Three rabbits provided with water all had similar reactions; one rabbit drank for more than 40 seconds, another for more than four minutes and a nursing rabbit drank for more than 2-and-a-half minutes. 

Additionally, animals on display were able to be touched by the public without proper barriers or employee supervision. The animals on display included potentially dangerous animals like foxes, bison, and coyotes.

"Despite numerous opportunities to correct their business practices, Mt. Hope Auction chose not to comply... Their complete disregard for the laws regarding animal welfare and treatment placed both these animals and the public at large in danger" said Rebecca Lutzko, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.

According to the release, if Mt. Hope Auction were able to get a new USDA license, it would be under a probationary period where they agree to comply with AWA standards and requirements.

If Mt. Hope Auction continues to repeatedly violate the standards and requirements during the probationary period, its AWA license will be permanently revoked according to the release.