Thirty-two dogs were seized from a Farmington dog breeding facility in Van Buren County on Tuesday, June 30th, after a federal court issued a temporary restraining order allowing government inspectors access to the property for the first time in more than a year, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
The dogs, belonging to Wuanita Swedlund of Farmington, have been placed in a local animal shelter. Swedlund had allegedly blocked USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service inspectors from accessing her facility, animals, and records on seven separate occasions over the previous ten months in violation of the Animal Welfare Act.
Following the court order, inspectors from APHIS and the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship coordinated to gain access to the facility, where they cited Swedlund for dozens of additional Animal Welfare Act violations. Based on the results of the inspection, the state obtained a search warrant and took possession of all 32 dogs on the property.
The seizure is the latest development in a lengthy history of regulatory violations at Swedlund’s operation. Since receiving her USDA license in July 2023, she has been cited for at least 25 violations of the Animal Welfare Act, including deaths of puppies, failure to treat dogs’ injuries and medical conditions, dog enclosures covered in feces, and dogs left without access to drinking water. The last time federal inspectors were able to access the facility before this week was December 2024, when they found a dog with heavily matted fur, multiple dogs with no water, and an enclosure described as almost entirely covered in fecal matter.
The lawsuit details a series of incidents involving the deaths of eight puppies from three separate litters. Three bulldog puppies died after Swedlund told inspectors she had found them dead following a strong cold draft at the front of their enclosure. She had attempted to seal the gap with duct tape, but inspectors found the tape peeling away with the draft still present. Three Rottweiler puppies from a separate litter were also found dead, and a puppy from another litter was severely injured and later euthanized after a husky broke into the enclosure housing a sheepdog and her newborn pups. A week later, another puppy from that same litter was apparently killed by its mother.
A January 2024 inspection found Swedlund was the sole full-time caregiver for 153 dogs and puppies — a workload inspectors noted was insufficient to maintain the minimum level of care required by federal law.
In February 2024, Swedlund signed an agreement with the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship to reduce the number of dogs at the facility to no more than 30 within 30 days. During a follow-up inspection in April 2024, only 12 dogs were found at the facility, but inspectors were unable to confirm where the remaining dogs had been transferred.
In February 2026, the USDA issued an official warning to Swedlund for repeatedly refusing to allow access to the facility. That was followed by a 21-day license suspension. After the suspension expired and access was again denied, the USDA referred the matter to the Department of Justice, which filed suit seeking the court order that ultimately led to Tuesday’s seizure.
“We filed this action to ensure that USDA inspectors had the opportunity to assess the care dogs were receiving at a breeder’s facility in Iowa,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson. “As a result of the district court’s order, federal and state inspectors found numerous AWA violations and moved 32 dogs to facilities that will give them the care they need.”
This is not the first time Swedlund has drawn national attention. As reported by Ottumwa Radio in April, Swedlund was named to Humane World for Animals’ annual Horrible Hundred list of problem puppy mills for the third time earlier this year.
According to the Iowa Capital Dispatch, past inspection records have also pointed to Swedlund’s affiliation with another Iowa breeder accused of numerous regulatory violations, and federal law prohibits operations from routing animals through multiple license holders. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has a pending lawsuit against the USDA alleging that Swedlund and another Iowa breeder were improperly licensed despite operating kennels populated by dogs owned by a third breeder with a history of violations — an arrangement critics describe as puppy laundering. The Iowa Capital Dispatch also reported that Swedlund’s attending veterinarian, Jerry Couchman, had his veterinary license suspended for nine months and his controlled substances registration suspended after the Iowa Board of Veterinary Medicine cited his conduct as posing an immediate danger to public health.
The USDA’s APHIS is continuing to investigate the matter.
