Rescuing Direct from the Puppy Mill

[Pugpillow]

Here is an email sent to one of my rescue colleagues. I thought people should see it to see that these puppymills are right it our own backyard up here in Ontario and learn a little more about them. I have removed the writer's name to protect her from hate mail (this IS the internet, after all, and open to everybody's view) and to allow her to continue to operate. The puppies she refers to are sold on the internet, in pet stores, at flea markets and at the end of their long farm driveways. It is way past time for this to stop.

CROSSPOSTED WITH PERMISSION

Cheryl,

Wellesley Township is not near Windsor. It is North of Perth County and South of Kitchener.

I have 15 or 16 Mennonite and Amish mills that call me on a regular basis when they have dogs to surrender. I have developed relationships with them over the years. When they have dogs they no longer want they will call me. Unfortunately, they don't always give me a lot of time. There have been times I have went to pick up a few dogs, and there are dead dogs in the manure pile.

The majority of dogs I get are either not producing, retired, need medical attention, or the Mill is "over their kennel license limit", and only have a short amount of time to disperse of the dogs, or they will face charges by their township/county. Unfortunately, the county/townships do not care "how" they get rid of the dogs. If it means the Mill owner has to shoot the dogs, they will. There are a few mills that will surrender to the OSPCA as well.

The young pups I get either have heart murmurs, cherry eyes, overbites, under bites, umbilical hernias, inguinal hernias or are just plain sick. Coccidia and Giardia is rampant. Of course the Amish don't drive cars, so if a dog or pup in the mill needs to be on antibiotics for any length of time, it is cheaper to get rid of it than have a mobile vet come and treat it. They will not spend the money to have the sick dogs vetted, so they will just dispose of them (shoot them). They call me and say, "I have a dog or pup that is not a good doer". Translated to english that means they have a dog/pup that is sick.

This is why I will only take dogs in Ontario. There are so many dogs from mills needing help, that there should be no reason to go to the States to get more. I certainly do not condemn rescues for saving dogs in the States, as each dog saved is a blessing. It is just that I cannot keep up with the Ontario dogs let alone bringing in US dogs.

Things are only getting worse, Cheryl, as the economy is bad right now. With the gas prices the way they are, adoptions are slow for everyone, I am sure you already know that. The shelters, pounds and rescues too. This also means the mills are not able to sell their pups like they could. This now means the mills are "backed up", and have 10, 11, 12 & 13 week old pups that are not sold, and always more pups being born. They are giving pups away that they call "old pups".

I got calls from 4 different mills last week asking me if I could take dogs. I had to turn them away.

You are well aware that the Inspector's for the OSPCA have little in the way of laws to stop this. Very frustrating.

Lastly, I don't know if you know this about the Amish & Mennonites, but they are like ants. When you have one calling at your door, you have 50.

Hugs,
(the writer)

[FourteenLegs]

So, so sad.

[rhenry]

How tragic. It puzzles me that anyone who has a belief in a god has such little regard for animals. They too are creations of their god.

[HomerNMarge]

so so sad...

[Cimaron]

So sad that some interpret the 'God gave man dominion over the animals' passage in Genesis this way...The belief that man has dominion over animals should entail a great sense of responsibility for their care and comfort.

[Pugpillow]

So sad that some interpret the 'God gave man dominion over the animals' passage in Genesis this way...The belief that man has dominion over animals should entail a great sense of responsibility for their care and comfort.

You know I've been thinking about that verse for the last couple of days. I would love to know what the Hebrew word for "dominion" really means. Sometimes these things get lost in the translation.

[Cimaron]

You know I've been thinking about that verse for the last couple of days. I would love to know what the Hebrew word for "dominion" really means. Sometimes these things get lost in the translation.

You know, I think this about a lot of things in the Bible...scholars are always discovering different shades of meaning in the various ancient manuscripts. I wonder how much controversy could be cleared up if we had some of the original writers here today.