WEST UNION, Iowa ( Iowa Capital Dispatch ) - One of Iowa’s largest and most troubled dog-breeding operations is now operating under a new license — a change that has wiped clean its slate of past violations and may derail a lawsuit over the government’s oversight of the business.

Federal records collected by the Iowa-based animal welfare group Bailing Out Benji show the animal dealer’s license for Stonehenge Kennels in West Union, which had long been held in the name of repeat violator Steve Kruse, is now in the name of an individual named Christine A. Snakenberg.

As a result of that change, the West Union kennel now has a clean record of regulatory compliance — although Lee County property records indicate the land and buildings where the kennel is located are still owned entirely by

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