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PetShopPuppies Newsletter - October 2009 |
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DATABASE PROJECT In May 2009, the USDA finally opened up public records of commercial dog breeders by publishing USDA inspections reports online. PetShopPuppies.org began processing these reports as soon as they became available, but the long overdue upgrade to our databases is no longer on our wish list, it is on our NEED LIST. It must be done, and must be done soon. We have already secured a programmer who has been working closely with us to make the database the best it can be but we are desperately in need of donations to fund this project. The four-tiered structure of the dog industry (breeder, broker, pet store, consumer) helps to hide the dirty little secrets that keep the abuses within puppy mills alive, and legal. While commercial breeders and brokers are regulated by the USDA, pet stores are only regulated on a state level, and only in a few states. Consumers, as pet owners, may be regulated by local dog licensing laws, but ultimately, the only connection between all four tiers is the puppy. PetShopPuppies.org's databases contain a staggering amount of information that links and tracks all four tiers of the dog industry. This information is not available anywhere else and is vital to understanding trends in the dog industry. Our fund-raising goal is $5,000, which includes a year of technical support and any programs or services we may need to to even further improve on the databases.
Nearly 1/4 of all puppy sales at pet stores occur on Saturday. You can find more statistics and graphs at the end of this newsletter. Please help us reach our fund-raising goal by donating today.
MISSOURI PUPPY MILLS
Missouri has long held the distinction of "Puppy Mill Capital of the World," a title well earned. Missouri produces 37% of the nation's commercially bred puppies. This year, Missouri's new Governor, new Attorney General, and new head of the Department of Agriculture vowed to crack down on unlicensed breeding facilities in the state. Two high-profile raids took place this year in Phelps County, "headquarters" of PetShopPuppies.org. In the most recent Phelps County raid, Agriculture director Jon Hagler and Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster were present and saw first hand the abuse these animals suffered. The Missouri Dept. of Agriculture (MoDA) said the kennel had been under investigation for a year, and added that Timothy King, the kennel owner, had been "asked" to surrender his dogs in 2008 but it's unclear whether or not this happened. A check of Missouri's court system revealed that King had already been charged with animal neglect/abandonment in May 2009, based on a March 2009 complaint. He is scheduled for trial in October 2009. As of today, no new charges have been filed against King for the recent raid. You can view a video of the raid but this is a clear case of a picture not being worth 1000 words. King was licensed by USDA, with his most recent inspection in April 2009. Fifty-five pages of violations of the Animal Welfare Act can be viewed here. For the last three years, King continually violated the Animal Welfare Act and for three years the animals in his care suffered horribly -- all the while, King continued to sell puppies to brokers where they eventually ended up in pet stores around the country. King is not an isolated case that simply fell through the cracks. While Missouri is vowing to go after unlicensed breeders with their new "bark alert" program, it is important to note that this only applies to reporting unlicensed facilities. In Missouri there are 1611 licensed commercial breeders, 164 brokers (many acting as breeders), 44 licensed hobby breeders, and 192 registered hobby breeders -- a total of 2011 different facilities. Use the links below to view inspection reports on some of the worst USDA inspections from Missouri facilities.
Note: In each newsletter we will highlight a new state and how that state plays a roll in the commercial dog industry. INDIANA CAMPAIGN Kudos to everyone involved in our Indiana Campaign of Awareness, now entering its third year. Organizers report a well attended and well received rally for Puppy Mill Awareness Day.
With the holiday buying season just around the corner, we need more and more people to get involved in the rallies. It takes only an hour or two of your time and is the most effective way to educate the public about the pet store/puppy mill connection. The rallies are peaceful, non confrontational, and well organized. All you need to do is show up -- signs are provided by PetShopPuppies. For more information about our Indiana Campaign, to join the Indiana mailing list, to make a donation to the Indiana Campaign, or to view the Rally schedule, CLICK HERE. |
NEW BROCHURES ARE HERE
Last year we ordered and distributed 100,000 educational brochures, and thanks to everyone who donated to the replenishment fund, we were able to order 100,000 more brochures in July 2009. We've made a few minor changes, mostly cosmetic, but the overall message remains the same -- puppy mills supply pet stores with puppies! Brochures are free but you must pay the shipping costs since we have no budget for this. Please help us educate the public by distributing brochures in your area. CLICK HERE to preview the new brochures, find creative ways to distribute brochures, and to order brochures. AKC's NEW CASH COW
The American Kennel Club is the oldest and most recognized dog registry in the United States. The history of AKC's romance with the commercial dog industry is more than we can cover in this newsletter, so we'll fast forward to September 2006 when AKC Delegates expressed their opinions about a new deal struck between the AKC and Petland. You can read the "debate" starting on page 20, but the end result was AKC backing out of their contract with Petland when they realized that those involved in the "Fancy" (those breeding and showing dogs) were not going to accept AKC's newest money making venture without a fight. AKC learned a lesson...or did they? If any lesson was to be learned, it was that any future deal with the puppy peddling pet stores would need to be kept quiet and done without the knowledge, and most certainly the approval, of the Delegates. In early 2009, AKC "secretly" launched a new program to replace the failed Petland deal. Puppy Registration and Inventory Management Extranet (PRIME) was designed to streamline the sale of puppies in pet stores (not just Petland), with the added bonus of registering the puppies with AKC on the spot. PRIME is a mirror to what the Fancy objected to in 2006, only worse! The 2006 deal was reportedly only designed to promote registration of AKC puppies. You see, puppies come with an application for registration -- the puppy isn't actually registered until the new owner names it and sends money to the AKC. Many new puppy owners never follow through with registration, and AKC wanted to recover that lost income by enlisting the aid of pet stores to encourage on-the-spot registration. Under the new PRIME deal, not only can puppies be registered right in the pet store, but AKC will even register non-AKC puppies! We're not talking about limited registration or ILP/PAL registration, we're talking about full AKC registration privelages. In a document obtained by PetShopPuppies, AKC instructs pet stores to do the following if the puppy is not AKC registered: The store will fax pedigrees for non-AKC dogs to the AKC and the AKC staff determines if the dog is eligible for AKC registration within two business days. Eligible dogs are automatically uploaded to the inventory. But it doesn't end there... according to information PetShopPuppies has obtained from pet store customers, non-AKC puppies can still be registered with AKC, even if the parent(s) of that puppy are not AKC registered! PetShopPuppies has documented three puppies sold through pet stores with full AKC registration, and neither the sire nor the dam were AKC registered. Twelve other puppies were documented where the sire or the dam were not AKC registered. One of the puppies we researched was bred by LOUISE CLAPP, one of the worst breeders in Missouri. Surprisingly, Louise Clapp is not suspended from AKC and routinely advertises AKC puppies in Missouri newspapers. The first line of AKC's mission statement reads: The American Kennel Club is dedicated to upholding the integrity of its Registry... We'll leave it up to you to decided if this mission is being accomplished with the new PRIME system. SPOTLIGHT
In each newsletter we will spotlight one "kennel of shame" in hopes of illustrating how ineffective USDA regulations are when dogs are in harm's way. This month, we feature High Hopes Kennel, owned by Jeff & Paula Stahl in Lamont, Oklahoma. You can read their inspections reports HERE (warning - the reports are very disturbing). These years of abuse did not go unnoticed. In May 2008, the Stahl's USDA license was permanently revoked and they are disqualified from ever obtaining another license. In addition, they were fined $54,375. Typical of USDA settlements, $50,625 of the fine was "held in abeyance," leaving the Stahls only $3750 in fines to pay. So what became of over 250 dogs and puppies owned by the Stahls? Were they rescued? Did they receive the much needed medical care documented in the USDA inspection reports? Were they turned over to rescue -- did they finally get a chance at life? Sadly, the answer is no. The dogs were ordered to be sold at the Chouteau Dog Auction (auction was held May 17, 2008) where most ended up back in the frying pan -- right back in the commercial dog industry producing puppies for pet stores. Presumably, the Stahls were able to keep all proceeds from the auction. In a rare decision, the agreement limits the Stahl's to owning no more than seven dogs You can read the entire court agreement HERE. Although USDA has restricted the Stahls to owning no more than seven dogs, this does not mean that they can not continue to breed and sell dogs. USDA only regulates breeders that sell through wholesale channels, and Oklahoma does not regulate dog breeders at all. Despite the severe violations of the Animal Welfare Act, the Stahls were not charged with any crime. Dog breeders licensed by USDA face only administrative action, such as the fine and license revocation the Stahls faced. Although local and state laws regarding animal abuse still apply to licensed breeders, it is rare that we see criminal charges filed. |
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Above: 2008 saw the first decrease in pet store puppy
prices in 10 years. 2009 prices Below: The chart below shows the top 25 purebreds
sold in pet stores. Although Yorkies
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