Rescued Animals Spay/Neuter Procedures Needed
UPDATED 2 p.m. Nov. 26, 2025 which include additional links regarding Amanda Fleer’s previous activity in Pennsylvania
By Peggy Bair
A black poodle named Zelda may have become the unsung hero in a heartbreaking story of animal neglect and abuse in Tonganoxie.
The poodle, near death, was found as a stray by passersby who took action October 17, 2024.
Photos of Zelda, courtesy of LCHS:
Crystal Swann Blackdeer, executive director of LCHS said Zelda’s rescue led to saving over 30 other animals trapped in deplorable conditions, that were found with the help of microchips.
“When that poodle came in, we had the animal control officer respond to here,” Blackdeer said. “She was in bad shape. She was so weak and anemic from the flea load that we weren’t sure she was going to survive even the trip to the emergency vet. They hospitalized her because she was so weak and depleted.”
The animal control officer and the deputy made a report, and Zelda’s case was referred to the Leavenworth County prosecutor. The case was filed February 19, 2025.
“If that hadn’t happened, I don’t believe we’d be in the rescue situation we are today,” Blackdeer said.
Zelda was microchipped to Amanda Fleer, who was running a home dog grooming business called Punked Up Pup LLC.
The first LCHS encounter with Fleer was in April 2024 when a stray named Lainey was brought to the shelter by Lansing Police Department.
“The dog had been adopted from Lawrence Humane Society and was microchipped to Fleer,” an LCHS news release stated. “She was injured, emaciated and loaded with fleas. She was not claimed. She remains in the care of LCHS, Inc. and is now called Laila.”
Photos of Lainey, now named Laila:
Over the months since Laila’s rescue, more strays were picked up also registered to Fleer. The strays coming in were in bad condition. Fleer never came forward to claim them, but she was on the LCHS radar. By the time Zelda came in on October 17, LCHS was determined to take stronger actions and contacted animal control to witness the animal cruelty connected with Fleer. Charges were finally filed against Amanda and her wife Jessica Fleer February 19, 2025, based on Zelda’s case.
Formerly Amanda Masser (maiden name) and Amanda Keylon, from a previous marriage, Fleer was living in the Tonganoxie house she once shared with her ex-husband Matthew Keylon. Kelyon said it’s the house he grew up in that belonged to his late grandmother. Although divorced in 2023, the couple still co-own the house, Keylon said. He moved to Ohio after the divorce while Fleer stayed in the house with his adult disabled brother, Kristopher Keylon, who also grew up in the house and wished to stay there with Fleer. Keylon and Fleer are co-guardians of Kristopher, Matthew Keylon said.
Amanda Keylon had remarried in 2023 to Jessica Lynn Fleer. The two solicited clients for Amanda’s dog grooming business and also bred different breeds of dogs.
The Fleers entered no contest pleas in August, 2025. Stemming from the no contest guilty verdicts on both women in the animal cruelty case, Fleer was initially sentenced Sept. 19 along with co-defendant Jessica L. Fleer, 35. The Fleers were sentenced to six months in the Leavenworth County jail, but the judge suspended the sentence and placed them on one year of supervised probation. They were additionally ordered to complete 50 hours of community service, not to own or care for any animals for the term of their probation and pay $1,542.28 in joint restitution.
But two months later, the Fleers still had dogs – a house full of them. Discovering this, authorities contacted the Court.
On November 13, one day before a court hearing for violating the terms of the sentencing, Amanda Fleer contacted Randi’s Rockin’ Dachshund Rescue to inquire about surrendering a dachshund. Randi Silvers, who runs the rescue, ended up in a longer conversation with Amanda and realized there was more to the request. Silvers ended up taking in 18 of the Fleers’ dogs, urging her volunteers to rescue as many as possible immediately.
Yet that still wasn’t all the animals on the property.
On November 14, Fleer was ordered to serve a ten-day jail sanction and ordered to surrender all the remaining animals. On November 18, LCHS personnel met Matthew Keylon on the property to intake the 10 remaining dogs.
The decision to stay in his grandmother’s house had also become a living nightmare for Kristopher Keylon who had been living in the same squalor as the animals, unable to contact his brother, Matthew said. Kristopher was reunited with Matthew the same day as the LCHS rescue.
“We had to get him bathed,” Matthew Keylon said. “And I burned his clothes.” The house is posted as unhabitable, Keylon said.
Those present at the LCHS rescue November 18 called it nightmarish scene: smeared, caked feces in every room of the house, ground into carpets and hallways where frightened, confused dogs dashed around rescuers through the filth, all of them laden with fleas that Keylon said were jumping on him the minute he stepped foot through the front door.
Photos of rescue November 18, courtesty of LCHS:
Volunteers donned protective suits to navigate the stench and patiently entice the frightened animals to come to them to be loaded up in waiting clean kennels. Two conures, two geckos and a tortoise were accepted by other specialty rescue organizations.
Rescuers found bones from what they believe is an animal graveyard on the property as they gathered evidence to preserve towards seeking additional charges against Fleer.
After the rescue at the LCHS facility, volunteers dived into the long hours of bathing and treating all the rescues for flea infestation. One dog required patient, delicate shaving to remove matted fur entwined with feces. Volunteers stopped counting at up to 400 fleas on a single dog. Three German shepherds had to be washed three times over a three-day period to get the stench and filth out of their fur. None of the dogs were sterilized.
A horse that appears to be in good condition is being cared for at the property and LCHS said they are arranging for the transfer of the horse to a new owner. As of the LCHS statement November 20, Fleer had not agreed to surrender the horse, but Blackdeer said it would be the best decision if she would take the simplest path.
Compounding the issues for LCHS as it deals with the Fleer case, a similar but separate surrender case came into the shelter from the Lansing Police Department about three weeks ago. Officers brought in a kennel containing four matted, and flea ridden intact male Pekinese plus a fifth one not in a kennel but bonded with the other four. Blackdeer said she is awaiting the police report to discover the origins of the five Pekinese.
Due to the two rescue cases, including the present mystery surrounding the Pekinese, the shelter is in urgent need of donations to help the rescues, all who will require spay and neutering. Blackdeer said the volume of procedures meant the rescues wouldn’t be available for adoption until after the first of the year.
“We’re already looking into appointments two or three at a time at local vets. It just depends on how much money we have, how quickly we can go,” Blackdeer said.
The most helpful donation for LCHS is money to cover the costs of the spay/neuter procedures. However, they also need supplies like towels, puppy pads and other items listed on their website. Volunteers are always needed to provide outdoor breaks and socialization for the dogs as they acclimate and recover. Applications and training schedules for volunteers are also on the LCHS website.
Blackdeer seemed relieved the animals were finally safe, but the shelter isn’t done with the Fleer case.
“We brought this one animal cruelty case to the Court but here should be 30 charges for animal cruelty, one for each of these animals,” she said.
Blackdeer credits the black poodle, now called Zelda, for spurring the animal control officer and deputy to file a report that served as a catalyst leading to the larger rescue.
“They brought justice,” Blackdeer said. “If it hadn’t been for Zelda, these other animals would still be in that house and still in her care – and be suffering.”
Donations to help these rescues get the spay/neuter procedures they all need can be made online at https://www.lchsinc.org/support
UPDATE: Amanda Fleer’s previous history includes a 2020 charge of animal cruelty stemming from the death of a horse named Lily Fleer owned – and an investigation by Pennsylvania State Police of other animals on the property. https://www.eveningsun.com/story/news/2020/05/01/adams-co-spca-investigates-death-horse-lilly-denies-starvation-claims/3068713001/
Additionally, Adams County SPCA continued to investigate into February 2021 for further animal cruelty at the Keylon residence (her name at that time.) That investigation, the SPCA stated, “There were approximately 50-75 dead animals of various stages of descomposition at the residence.