Milwaukee Magazine featured "Puppy Hell" in the latest edition.
The descriptions of dogs kept in freezing and wet conditions, in filth, in wire cages - all of that is disgusting. The article noted a
"hidden-camera investigation showing how a Havens (a Wisconsin puppy mill operation) puppy had its paw chewed off by an overstressed mother forced to repeatedly breed."
May Van de Kamp Nohl, the author, went on to illustrate that Wisconsin holds first place in a nationwide hall of shame for breeding practices.
“Wisconsin is like the Wild West for puppy mills. There are no laws,” says Jana Kohl, author of a new book on puppy mills titled A Rare Breed of Love.
Descriptions were given of the State's neglect to legislate against puppy mills or to enforce current law against operators here.
I publish an online directory for Wisconsin with free classifieds and you'd be amazed at the number of scams and puppy mills that are posted daily. So much junk that we've had to make posting a dog classified more difficult than it should be, and new members who post in this section find the ad staged for review be a human being before going live. It ends up costing me thousands of dollars a year to provide a free service.
There are plenty of other free classifieds websites that don't have a conscience, so scammers and puppy mills get a free ride online.
I'm deeply disappointed that Wisconsin, once the bastion of propriety and progressive government finds itself in another hall of shame.
Thank you for doing your 4th estate job.
Regards,
Keith Klein
I've been stewing about this for a couple of weeks since reading the article. As most of you know, I publish the site you're reading now. We have a great group of animal lovers on my company staff, as moderator staff, and as members here at theBubbler.
It costs me over $30,000 a year to provide this free web service to Wisconsin. Beyond other costs, the daily purging of ads for puppy mills and puppy scams are a constant nuisance, a drain on time, yet we do it because we care about the state and our viewers - and our own ethics.
We had a few members quit the site recently when we insisted that ads for puppies be placed per dog rather than per litter. Anyone who devotes time and care to puppies knows that each has its own personality was part of our rationale. Making it harder for someone who doesn't devote time and care to their animals was another part of our thinking. Unfortunately, that makes it a bit harder for everyone.
Better that it is a bit harder, in my opinion, to advertise a puppy or dog for sale. We don't want to aid the puppy mills and we end up helping buyers get healthier pets - while we do our part not to aid and abet puppy millers.
No guarantees on our classifieds. Despite our efforts some bad ones could slip through. I have concerns about two right now. If you're a member in the Black River Falls area and you'd like to help ascertain some information, please contact me.
If I could devote full-time in coming weeks and months to ferreting out these operators to stop them I would. If I had the resources to devote to ferreting out state legislators and forcing the issue, I would. Anyone out there who'd like to use this site as a platform to get changes in the law is more than welcome to do so.
Having grown up with dogs (we owned a kennel and had 19 Weimaraners, all AKC registered show dogs), I hate to see any dog abused or mistreated as they are such wonderful creatures. Puppy mills are an issue any animal lover should be concerned with.
Here's a link to purchase the book mentioned in the article:
Jana Kohl, Psy.D.: is a writer, artist, clinical psychologist, and animal welfare advocate. From a young age her primary drives were to aid social justice causes and do philanthropic work. Having worked for the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies for many years, and now as an animal welfare advocate, she has long been concerned with how cruelty can become sanctioned by society. Kohl has testified before the Illinois State Legislature on the link between legalized violence against animals and inter-human violence. She has participated in numerous animal welfare campaigns, most notably to end the sale of foie gras in her hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Kohl currently resides in California with Baby and a cat named Kitty Pie, whom she also adopted.
Baby: spent the first nine years of her life locked in a cage at a breeder’s home in Northern California, and was rescued by a passing stranger on the day she was scheduled to be killed for having gotten too old to produce litters. Through a pet rescue website, Baby found a “forever home” with Jana Kohl. She spends her time advocating for other abused dogs and animals, and best of all, being cuddled, kissed, and snuggled by her “Ma.”
Google Ads here come up with Puppies for Sale... that shows the lack of sophistication of search. We're talking about puppy mills and, for all anyone knows, a puppy mill could be advertising, or a legit business that unknowingly uses dogs from a mill could be associated with a thread like this.
I noticed that as well.. in fact, it's displaying the exact set of ads it displayed the last time I viewed this thread..
Quote:
Originally Posted by keith
Google Ads here come up with Puppies for Sale... that shows the lack of sophistication of search. We're talking about puppy mills and, for all anyone knows, a puppy mill could be advertising, or a legit business that unknowingly uses dogs from a mill could be associated with a thread like this.
There was a story in the Sunday Journal Sentinal today about Puppy Haven puppy mill. It's in the Cue section on the front page if anyone is interested.
This practice not just limited to dogs. It happens to birds, kittens, ferrets, and other small pets. It makes me sick. All so someone can make a buck or two off of animals.
Clearly we need more Responsibility in our society.
Many of us have been conditioned to cry "too much government" - clearly we need more, and more responsible government to curb abuses like this.
We publish free classifieds here at theBubbler, and we act responsibly be devoting considerable resources to keeping the scams and junk out. We're not the largest free classifieds site in Wisconsin, though I dare say we are the most responsible. We've taken flack from people who don't want to take the trouble to list puppies individually here, and "too bad, so sad." That's the way it has to be because we don't want to be part of the problem of puppy mills (or similar sad situations for other animals, as Blue suggested). That's our duty, to act responsibly. If you like to support responsible behavior, please tell your friends about Wisconsin Information Source - theBubbler - Wisconsin's Information Source - Home of Wisconsin Free Classifieds, Wisconsin Forums and Wisconsin Chat
I finally got a chance to sit down last night and read the story in the Journal about Violet the schnauzer. When they first found her at the former Puppy Haven, her hair was matted so bad she couldn't walk properly. She was so scared she would lay down flat trying to become part of the floor. She was adopted into her forever home in Oct. Her new family took her outside for the first time and she just froze in fear on the grass. She was terrified about this strange new thing called grass. About 2 weeks after being adopted, her tail finally lifted and she wagged for the first time. Now she loves to be held and petted by her new family. She still doesn't know what to do with toys, but her family is trying to get her to learn what fun is. She gets lots of love from the 4 children of her adoptive family.
In 2008 when Puppy Haven in Markesan was bought out by the Humane Society, they had 1600 dogs. Can you imagine? I've been trying to wrap my brain around that amount of dogs in one place. How long would it take to feed all of them? How many cages did they have? I know puppy mills put way too many dogs in each cage, but I still can't imagine that many dogs at once.
I finally got a chance to sit down last night and read the story in the Journal about Violet the schnauzer. When they first found her at the former Puppy Haven, her hair was matted so bad she couldn't walk properly. She was so scared she would lay down flat trying to become part of the floor. She was adopted into her forever home in Oct. Her new family took her outside for the first time and she just froze in fear on the grass. She was terrified about this strange new thing called grass. About 2 weeks after being adopted, her tail finally lifted and she wagged for the first time. Now she loves to be held and petted by her new family. She still doesn't know what to do with toys, but her family is trying to get her to learn what fun is. She gets lots of love from the 4 children of her adoptive family.
In 2008 when Puppy Haven in Markesan was bought out by the Humane Society, they had 1600 dogs. Can you imagine? I've been trying to wrap my brain around that amount of dogs in one place. How long would it take to feed all of them? How many cages did they have? I know puppy mills put way too many dogs in each cage, but I still can't imagine that many dogs at once.
Much of the same story was featured in Milwaukee Magazine.
Quote:
Originally Posted by keith
You can find who represents you in Wisconsin here:
As a monthly donor you'll receive a t-shirt and a photograph of one of our wonderful shelter pets. In addition you will receive a quarterly statement and quarterly newsletter.
They just seized 360 dogs from a puppy mill about 30 miles from me in Seneca, MO. This is the woman's second offense of this sort. The first time her dogs were seized, auctioned off (to other kennels!), and she was fined $10,000.
This kind of stuff is just disgusting in my opinion.
The dogs will be taken to the Humane Society’s headquarters in St. Louis for triage. This rescue comes just days after the Humane Society took in 100 Yorkies from a breeding facility in Greene County. Dogs rescued from the Seneca facility included small-breed dogs including chihuahuas, Boston terriers, miniature pinchers, Lhasa apsos, Pomeranians and Westies, according to the news release. There were also 25 to 30 large breeds including huskies, chow- chows and Shar Peis.
What's really frustrating is that Wisconsin is so lax about it's animal protection laws that we not only attract millers from other states who are being forced out of the business there, but when we try to file a complaint there's no law prohibiting them or way to stop the abuse.
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