July28
Puppy mill busts have stepped up over the last three months, with a bust occurring every five days or so somewhere in the United States. By my count 39 raids have taken place so far in 2010. And for every puppy mill unearthed, dozens more go undetected.
Here’s the latest:
May
- Outside of Portland, Ore.,authorities found 22 dogs, including 13 Basset Hounds and one Lhasa Apso, languishing at a substandard kennel.
- In Richburg, S.C., 87 Yorkies, Maltese, Chihuahuas covered with old urine and feces were removed from a home and from overheated storage units in the breeder’s backyard. The units were so full of stench that law enforcers have to ventilate them for several hours before going in.
- In Central Okla., officials discovered 65 Chihuahuas, Schnauzers and terriers with severely matted coats, eye problems and bloody feet.
- In Robert, La., more than 100 dogs, many of the Miniature Pinschers, were found stacked in filthy cages. The dogs had never stepped on solid ground and hopped about “like someone walking on hot coals” when they were set on the ground for the first time.
June
- In Bottineau County, N.D., rescuers saved 18 Poodles, Collies, Pekingese and other dogs from a squalid kennel.
- In Cortland, N.Y., 27 Boxers and Cockapoos were removed from filthy cages.
- Authorities near Tuscumbia, Mo., found 108 Cocker Spaniels, Poodles, Pekingese, Beagles, Cavalier King Charles Spaniels and Shih Tzus crowded into 2 by 2-foot cages. The dogs were suffering from eye infections, overgrown toenails and malnourishment.
- In Lee County, Fla., officials confiscated 26 puppies from a Missouri breeder who was selling them without a license or proof that they had been examined by a veterinarian.
- A breeder in New Tripoli, Penn., was charged with 22 counts of animal cruelty after the discovery of 18 Bichon Frise and Neapolitan Mastiffs in deplorable conditions.
- In Omaha, Neb., 35 dogs, mostly American Eskimos, with eye, teeth and coat problems were removed from a kennel.
July
- A breeder in Knox County, Tenn., was arrested after officials found 27 Chihuahuas and two parakeets in bad shape on his property.
- In Wilson County, Tenn., two dozen Shar Peis covered in fleas and ticks and lacking food or water were discovered at a kennel. When investigators returned to the property several days later to remove the dogs, they could find only 17.
- Near Charlotte, N.C., authorities found 40 English Bulldogs, Chihuahuas, Boston Terriers and Maltipoos living with moldy water and food and suffering from worms at a kennel.
- In Nashua, Iowa, 12 St Bernards, Dachshunds, Lhasa Apsos and other dogs were removed from an unsanitary kennel. Five dead dogs were also found.
- At filthy kennels in Norman and Oklahoma City, Okla., rescuers seized more than 70 Maltese, Chihuahuas and Yorkies.
- In Aurora, Neb., two dozen breeding Pugs in ill health were removed from a squalid kennel. The last dog to give birth ate her puppies “and usually that’s a matter of severe stress,” a Hearts United for Animals representative said.
- In Harrah, Oka., officials charged a breeder with animal cruelty after finding ”countless” dogs living in weeds several feet high and covered with ticks and fleas.
- Several rescue groups helped save more than 100 mostly small breed dogs from a kennel in Carriere, Miss. Take a look at a video the Humane Society of the U.S. posted after the raid. Incredible as it may seem, thousands of dogs endure this kind of life. http://www.humanesociety.org/news/press_releases/2010/07/ms_puppy_mill_rescue_072110.html
July26
Pennsylvania’s legislature won much praise two years ago when it passed a ground-breaking law aimed at curtailing puppy mills. But bureaucrats are watering down some of the intentions of the new law, and animal-welfare activists are justifiably incensed.
Among other things, the new law doubled the minimum cage sizes used to house breeding dogs, barred the stacking of cages and outlawed wire flooring in cages for dogs that are more than 12 weeks old. Another key provision required that breeders give their dogs unfettered access to an outdoor exercise area at least twice the size of their cages. The chance to exercise outdoors would have made an enormous improvement in the lives of these dogs.
I describe the legislature’s accomplishment in detail in Saving Gracie: How one dog escaped the shadowy world of American puppy mills.
But earlier this month, the Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement decided breeders did not have to offer outdoor exercise areas after all. The bureau also decreed that breeding females could be kept on wire floor cages for a week before giving birth and for five or six more weeks after, until their puppies were weaned. That adds up to a third of the year for female dogs.
Being forced to stand on wire is painful and unnecessary, activists say: mother dogs clean up after their puppies on their own and don’t need to rely on wire cages, which would let urine and feces fall through.
In an excellent op-ed piece, Nancy Gardner, an animal lover and member of the Pennsylvania Dog Law Advisory Board, wrote: “Pennsylvania officials took it upon themselves to interpret the law contrary to its very specific wording. … Who gave the Department of Agriculture and the Burea of Dog Law Enforcement the right to blatantly ignore the language of the law so many fought so hard to pass?”
Gov. Ed Rendell needs to intervene on behalf of the dogs. Rendell wanted to reform the system, but if he lets the bureaucrats water it down, his legacy will be diluted along with it. That would be a shame, because the dogs deserve better.
July18
Thanks to Beau Archer for this wonderful review, which was published on the website for the Humane Society of the United States: www.hsus.org
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July 13, 2010
Book is ‘heartfelt account of a dog’s journey through rescue and rehabilitation’
A recently published book by Carol Bradley, Saving Gracie: How One Dog Escaped the Shadowy World of American Puppy Mills, (Wiley, 2010), is a captivating assessment of the problems with U.S. puppy mills and a heartfelt account of one dog’s journey through rescue and rehabilitation.
Bradley’s book centers on the 2006 Mike-Mar Kennel puppy mill case in Pennsylvania which exposed the underbelly of atrocious puppy mill operations and how puppy mill owners deceive the public. Saving Gracie also offers a compelling narrative of the cases that helped pave the way to Pennsylvania’s Dog Law reform two years later.
An insider’s view
Bradley presents a true insider’s view of what goes on behind the scenes of a puppy mill case as it mounts and unfolds, the challenges of funding the care of dogs when they must be held as evidence through a trial, and the physical and psychological problems that puppy mill survivors endure, very often for the rest of their lives.
Bradley leads readers through the trials and tribulations of Linda Jackson’s rehabilitation of “Gracie,” a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel who Linda adopted after the Mike-Mar Kennel case concluded and the dogs were finally released after months of living in various animal shelters.
Sharing her story
Gracie, among other health problems, had eye problems, ear infections, and was so shy that she averted her eyes whenever anyone would look at her. Linda and her family struggled to meet Gracie’s needs. In the end they came to accept that she lead a traumatizing life and would never be like a dog who did not share her history.
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Bringing Gracie into their family gave the Jacksons firsthand experience of just how cruel puppy mills are to breeding dogs and also propelled them to caution others about puppy mills and encourage people to buy from reputable breeders or, better yet, adopt their next pet.
Spotlight on advocacy
Delivering to readers the passion and dedication of local humane investigators, Saving Gracie also chronicles the advocacy work of many individuals and national animal welfare groups, that will affect the future of puppy mills and legislation designed to help dogs in these mass breeding operations.
Saving Gracie is a good introduction to the puppy mill problem and the mounting successes taking place across the country as more and more people are educated about them. It analyzes how puppy mill cases are handled, reveals the inherent deceit and cruelty of such facilities, and depicts a slice of the lives of puppy mill survivors and the families that take them in and love them. This book gives hope about the future of dogs in puppy mills and demonstrates that when passionate advocates, citizens, legislators, and other leaders work together significant achievements can be accomplished.
Beau Archer is outreach coordinator for The HSUS’s Puppy Mills campaign.