I-Team: Puppy Mills
John Mercure
(http://www.todaystmj4.com/features/iteam/7191936.html)
Thousands of dogs are being raised in deplorable conditions, right here in Wisconsin. Puppy mills house these sick and injured creatures. The I-Team went inside puppy mills to see what's really going on.
Senior investigative reporter John Mercure and his team found puppies covered in their own waste, and dogs so stressed out that they chew each others feet and tails off. (Note: SAMANTHA JO has no tail. The vet stated he suspected it was chewed off.)
He also discovered that our own legislators are allowing these puppy mills to stay in business.
The puppies are cute and cuddly looking when they make it to the shelves of the pet store. But the way they were born and bred shocked us. (Note: One of the adult females was pregnant. The vet stated that it was likely neither the three year old mom nor the pups would have survived had they been carried to term due to the depleted condition of the uterus from being bred so young and so often.)
"They don't get interaction. They don't get to play. You end up with a stoic animal. It just sits there and stares at you. No feeling, no spirit," said Chuck Wegner with the Clark County Humane Society, which sometimes rescues puppy mill dogs.
"It has to be absolutely pathetic," he said. "They’re in a confined area that's three feet by four feet if they're lucky, often smaller.They don't get out to exercise. They don't get handling." (Note: Only one of the dogs had a collar; none demonstrated any experience whatsoever in leash walking. JOEL's rear legs have little musculature and they don't extend back away from his body. This problem should correct itself as he develops muscle tissue through regular exercise.)
We visited Puppyhaven in Kingston, Wis. The puppies were kept in small, wire cages in a factory-like atmosphere. Our undercover video shows very little food and dirty water. The smell of urine and feces was overpowering, and the conditions were so cramped that dogs could barely move. Outside, they were penned in kennels and covered in feces. (Note: All of the adults required dentals to remove impacted fecal matter from their gums and the roofs of their mouths.)
"They've never had human contact, so they’re scared of people. They're scared of grass. If the phone rings they jump out of their skin," said Teri Woodchuck, who routinely goes there to take away the mutilated, injured and sick dogs. We went along with her last month when she picked up ten dogs.
"They have scraped up noses from chewing on the wire, teeth all broke off from chewing on wire. They get in fights and they have little pieces of ear missing," Woodchuck said. (Note: All of the adults have scraped up noses; AILEEN is missing a lower front tooth.)
One little puppy was very sick with a "belly full of worms," we were told. (Note: All of these dogs had heavy worm loads; the three puppies also had giardia.)
Another had his whole foot chewed off by his neurotic mother. Woodchuck took that pug-beagle mix home with her and named him Buddy. "That comes from stress, having puppies in a stressful situation and they don’t know what they're doing and they'll just gnaw," she explained.
The puppies raised inside have never seen sunlight and never touched the ground. The feel of grass is so scary and overwhelming to these little guys that many of them freeze and refuse to move, unsure of what they're standing on.
At Puppyhaven, the breeding dogs are warehoused outside. Their pens contain so much feces that the dogs are forced to walk in it. Woodchuck, who visits the mill regularly, said that the dogs are always hyper, just begging for any human attention or interaction.
And the list of diseases and illnesses found in dogs purchased at Puppyhaven is overwhelming.
- Canine herpes.
- Kennel cough.
- Upper respiratory infections.
- Parasites.
- Coccidia.
- E coli infections.
- Worms.
We decided to pay the puppy mill a visit and ask some questions. We got no answers.
"We'll call the cops," one woman told us. We asked her about the puppy with the chewed off foot. Her response? "I don't know where you got it from," and told us it wasn't from her business.
But she was wrong. Buddy was bought at Puppyhaven for 50 bucks, just two weeks before we visited.
The owner refused to talk about that or the conditions in her facility.
So how does this happen? Turns out, Wisconsin is one of the least regulated puppy breeding states in the nation. That means more puppy mills and more problem puppies.
In 2003, the law could have changed. A tough puppy mill bill was passed. But then-acting governor Scott McCallum gutted the bill, vetoing out funding and penalties. Eventually, Gov. Jim Doyle eliminated the bill altogether.
"It shouldn't happen anywhere, but to see it happening right here in your own back yard is terrible. We need some kind of legislation to be able to stop this stuff," Wegner told us.
There is no pending legislation in Wisconsin to regulate puppy mills.
"It's all about the money. And behind the money is a lot of misery. Gotta be a way to stop it," Wegner added.
The only statutes that exist are vague and apply to all animals. They don't target puppy mill operations.
Want to help?
To find out who your state legislator is to complain, call 608-266-9960. or toll free 800-362-WISC.
To complain to the Governor's Office, call 608-266-1212.
For more information, visit No Wisconsin Puppy Mills.
