Anatomy of a puppy mill raid, Part II
The HSUS team begins to sweep the property. They stride through the jumble of objects piled haphazardly in the yard—rusty jumper cables, a colander, milk crates etc and enter the double-wide through a side porch cluttered with empty dog food bags and half-assembled cages. Inside , it looks as though someone has come home from shopping time and again but never had the energy to put anything away. Dirty dishes fill the sink and beyond. Fly strips are coated with insects. On the one remaining burner that’s accessible sit’s a pot containing an oily, murky liquid many days old.
In the living room a desk is spread with drugs, syringes, IV bags, pills, powders medicated shampoo,. Unopened dog toothbrushes- Sarah’s vet station. In the corner lies the studio Where Sarah concocted the images she used to sell dogs: a table with rust metal legs, draped with a dusty blue quilt. Nearby, there is a puppy in a cage. The agent assigns that dog and the three others numbers the start of an inventory of the animals and map of the property.
Outside team members survey some of the 60 enclosures. Dogs are barking, yipping, growling. Horses graze around a 3×5 foot pile of ash and charred, splintered bones, on grass littered with deer vertebrae and scapulas. Along the two sides of the backyard are rows of chain-link kennels like the kind that holds the Labradoodle. Along another side stands a row of rabbit hutches with slatted metal floors and puddles of urine and feces below. Field rescue worker crawls into a hutch and a nursing pug-beagle mix emerges from the darkness of a box at the back, slowly, tentatively. The puggle’s nails have grown so long her feet are splayed. She walks almost as though she’s forgotten how. Finding chickens, ducks, guinea hens, and geese roam the cesspools beneath. Flies swarm.
One by one, the small hutches are emptied, gently wrangling trembling mothers. Not one is going to bother you again as he kisses her face, and she tries to lick him.
Other dogs greet the rescuers like old friends. A dusky looking terrier mix missing much of her fur narrows her eyes to slits as she’s hoisted, savoring the human contact. After a moment her tail begins to wag, like a long ago memory. Most of the dogs don’t know how to walk on a leash or wouldn’t go with the rescuers even if they did, so every single one of them is carried toward the mobile kennels in the rigs. The animals are taken to a tent set up where veterinarians inspect the animals for outward problems: fleas, skin condition, gum disease and the sort.
The last to be rescues is a wolfhound running in a pack of dogs who long ago escaped from their kennels. He’s placed aboard the second tractor trailer and the rig, lights dimmed, soft music playing, pulls off, on it’s way to the temporary shelter in a warehouse by the airport. Needed supplies, like leashes, collars are donated by a Pet store to help in this rescue. There are 200 dogs rescued and they are silent because they don’t have to compete for their food and water, they are clean, and they are dry. Some of the dogs are sick and hopefully they can be treated to recover after all they have been through.
Meanwhile, Sarah is arrested and in her mug shot, the corners of her mouth are turned down in a defiant scowl. Her eyes are angry, her face hard. She looks as if she will fight the charges, which means the dogs will remain in limbo, housed in the temporary shelter. But nine days after the rescue, she pleads guilty to seven counts of ill treatment of animals and agrees to give up all her dogs, horses, fowl, other than her tree household dogs. She’s ordered to tear down the outdoor enclosures for dogs and told she will not be permitted to keep more than three dogs and one bird in the future. Shutting down the facility was a matter of naming what she was doing. Sarah called her business a farm. The HSUS identified it as a puppy mill.
Tia Pope, who answers the puppy mill tip line is waiting to hear from you. If you hear of or encounter what you believe is a puppy mill, please call that number regardless of where you live.
Tips that lead to the conviction of a puppy mill operator garner up to a $5000.00 reward, made possible by a HSUS donor. Adopting a dog from a shelter or rescue is one of the surest ways to strike a blow against puppy mills. Before buying from a breeder should not buy sight unseen, even if the breeder has an attractive website or a relationship with the AKC, also buyers should also go to the breeders home and see not only the puppy, but the puppy’s mother and father, plus the other dog’s on the property. They should check the breeders references and check for complaints.
Thank you for reading this article and hope this helps to understand what puppy mills do . . . . I ran out of cookies!!!!
Maralyn