The St. Louis Post Dispatch reports that an animal dealer in northwest Arkansas agreed to pay the largest-ever penalty for violations under the federal Animal Welfare Act. C.C. Baird and his wife, Patsy, paid $262,700.00 last week as part of a settlement in a civil case brought by the USDA.

The Bairds, along with their daughters Jeanette and Patricia, ran one of the largest dog-dealing businesses in the nation, with C.C. Baird at its center, according to federal authorities. It operated as two kennels in Williford, Ark., about 20 miles from the Missouri state line. It had frequent dealings in southeast and southwest Missouri, where C.C. Baird was well-known for buying and trading animals. "He is synonymous with puppy mills," said Brenda Shoss of Kinship Circle, a St. Louis-based animal advocacy group.

The USDA is now having to ask owners of recently lost dogs to contact them. Hundreds of inquiries are already pouring in, and the USDA has already reunited a dozen or more owners with their pets.

Selling dogs and cats to medical research facilities proved to be lucrative for the Bairds, federal authorities said. In 1999, one of their busiest recent years, the Bairds bought 3,300 animals, sold 3,115 animals and grossed a minimum of $100,000, according to the civil complaint.

The Bairds' clients are said to have included research universities across the country, among them the University of Colorado's Health Sciences Center, Oregon State University and the University of Missouri at Columbia.