THE WINDOW SUFFERING? - DogsInDanger

A Lot—but You CanHelp.

ANIMAL SHELTERING SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 200632

“I hope that if we do our jobs wellenough, a family will be able tosweep them into their homes andput them on a couch where theywill be loved and adored the restof their lives,” she says. “It is stress-ful because at some point you won-der about putting all this work andenergy into something that the gen-eral public will probably neverunderstand. … We don’t do it formoney or glory—especially sincewe’re covered in grime and everybodily fluid imaginable!”

Working day in and day outwith these dogs, Turnbough usu-ally identifies which ones aregoing to pull through. Her pas-sion for animal welfare drives herdiligence and long hours, but shedoes suffer the emotional toll.She has patiently watched themetamorphosis, as emaciated,bald, hollow-eyed creatures gainbody weight, fur and new lightin their eyes. But for some of themost traumatized dogs, that lightnever returns.

HOW MUCH IS THAT DOGGIE

IN THE WINDOWSUFFERING?

BY K ATHERINE MC GOW AN

Day by day, exam room atten-dant Brandy Turnbough ob-serves which dogs sleep on

their pillows. She learns whichstuffed animals they prefer andwhich toys are chewed to shreds. Inspite of the huge numbers of res-cued dogs and puppies whodescend into an already full shelter,Turnbough tries to learn all thenames, favorite toys, treatmentschedules, unique behaviors, andquirks. She can tell all the puppiesapart and, without looking, knowswhich dog is barking when shewalks past a bank of cages.

During their first days at theHumane Society of Missouri, somedogs rescued from puppy mills areso frightened they won’t eat.Turnbough often spends her ownmoney and cooks chicken livers,pork tenderloin, hamburger, scram-bled eggs with cheddar cheese, andany other food that might entice herterrified charges. She offers themglobs of peanut butter, hoping tobuild trust and pull these trauma-tized dogs through their haze of fearand malnourishment. She takespride in seeing their bodies respondto treatment.

Most puppy mill dogs probablydon’t recall their first few weeks oflife. They’re usually sold to a bro-ker and transported across thecountry in early puppyhood, arriv-ing at pet stores to be sold for any-where from $300 to $2,000 to fam-ilies who don’t know what kind ofanimal they’re buying—or whatkind of industry their purchasesupports. But when those samepuppies manifest serious behaviorissues or expensive health prob-lems as they grow up, consumersare confronted with the conse-quences of their naiveté.

For local animal shelters, thoseconsequences are only com-pounded. Whether they’re locatedin puppy mill areas or not, whetherthey’ve been involved with rescuesand seizures of puppy mill dogs ornot, shelters throughout the coun-try every day see the results of thepuppy mill industry’s poor breed-ing and neglect.

A “puppy mill” is a commercialbreeding operation that producespuppies en masse for profit.Unlike small-scale, responsiblebreeders, puppy millers focus ongenerating high volumes of ani-

mals and selling them to distrib-utors, who then transport them topet stores throughout the UnitedStates. And following the Internet’sdebut as a powerful selling tool—allowing mass breeders to markettheir “products” on professionallyproduced websites peppered withdeceiving photos of healthy, breed-standard puppies—more andmore puppy mill operators areselling directly to consumers.Classified advertisements in news-papers and magazines also encour-age direct sales to unsuspectingpet lovers; these arrangementsallow the mill operator to bypassthe retailer and net higher profits.In some cases, consumers pur-chase a puppy online or over thephone and meet the breeder in aparking lot to pick up the pup.They never get a glimpse of thepuppy’s birthplace, let alone meether mom and dad—an arrange-ment that allows puppy millers tokeep their secrets.

And what are those secrets? Thelist is nightmarishly long.

To begin with, puppy mills typ-ically ignore best breeding prac-tices—for example, where

responsible breeders will allowbreeding females a period of restbetween litters, puppy millersoften compel the dogs to be preg-nant at every cycle. A responsiblebreeder seeking to maintain highstandards will not breed dogs whohave physical imperfections suchas overbites, hip dysplasia, orblindness. Puppy millers sufferfrom no such compunctions: Ifthey can sell the puppies, theywill breed the dog—even if she’sbald from mange and infestedwith parasites.

The long-term effect of mass com-mercial breeding on the standardof certain breeds is bad enough.Worse, though, is the suffering andneglect inflicted on individual ani-mals who live within the environsof the puppy mill itself. Puppy millsmay house as few as 50 and as manyas 1,000 animals, often in cramped,filthy conditions with poor nutri-tion and minimal veterinary care.The worst of the puppy mills crowdhundreds of animals into wirecages. Dogs stand and walk onwire-mesh flooring; these dogs notonly develop splayed feet but neverlearn how to walk on grass or a reg-

SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2006 WWW.ANIMALSHELTERING.ORG 33

HUMANE SOCIETY OF MISSOURI


ular floor. Dogs are also oftenforced to drink green water and eatmoldy food mixed with their ownexcrement. When injured, they’reseldom given adequate veterinarycare; instead, they will self-med-icate by chewing at their wounds.Some have even been known tochew off a limb.

This shouldn’t be allowed to hap-pen—and if the inspection systemoverseen by the United StatesDepartment of Agriculture actual-ly worked well, it wouldn’t. But the

USDA’s inspection of puppy millsis spotty at best. Many mass-breed-ing facilities clean up their act justenough to scrape by inspectionsand then rapidly spiral back downinto neglectful squalor. And lackof resources compromises theUSDA’s ability to adequatelyinspect all facilities: The agency’s100 animal care inspectors arecharged with visiting more than3,500 licensed breeding operations,not to mention zoos, circuses, andresearch facilities.

Mostly through ignorance, thepublic encourages the continuedexistence of puppy mills by pur-chasing animals from pet stores.And the public’s desire for certainkinds of dogs helps drive thepuppy market. After all, how manyof your potential adopters askabout the availability of 45-poundchow-shepherd mixes?

Most people in search of a newdog want small ones, a demandthat puppy millers are only toohappy to meet. Shih tzus, cockerspaniels, Yorkshire terriers,Malteses, pugs, Pomeranians, and

other small breeds are easier formass-breeding facilities to house;they can crowd several dogs in onecage and stack cages on top of oneanother. Consumers want smalldogs—and puppy mills deliver,with little regard for the quality oflife of their breeding stock.

But that quality of life matters toyou. As an animal shelter, you areliterally combating the negativeeffects of puppy mills in your ownbackyard. Though states likeMissouri and Pennsylvania have

long been known hosts of puppymills, animal advocates can nolonger consider puppy mills alocalized problem.

Historically, puppy mills have beenlocated in farming states becausepuppies were viewed as an agricul-tural commodity; in the wake of thesecond World War, the USDA actu-ally encouraged farmers to com-pensate for declining crop prices byraising puppies. But mass breedingfacilities are beginning to crop upin places where they haven’t beenbefore, and the cross-country com-plaints show that while these ani-mals may come from a “puppy millstate,” they don’t always stay there.

While the problem is increasing-ly widespread, it’s also a problemshelters can help solve.

As the head of the campaignagainst puppy mills for The HumaneSociety of the United States,Stephanie Shain is optimistic thatthe forces fueling the puppy millbusinesses can be turned inside out.

“The people who unwittinglysupport this industry are doglovers. The puppy mill industry

preys on the emotions of peoplewho love dogs,” says Shain. “Wewill win by educating the publicabout the reality of pet store andInternet puppies. We have a newgeneration of puppy buyers whohave never heard of a puppy mill—and if they saw the conditions of apuppy mill, they would be horri-fied and wouldn’t want their moneysupporting it.”

Animal shelters should neverunderestimate their power to effectchange in their communities, saysShain. She suggests that shelters needto be aware of who is selling dogs intheir area and how they are sellingthem. “I think shelters should be ask-ing people who turn in their animalsto a shelter where the puppy camefrom,” Shain says. “That is an impor-tant piece of information for a shel-ter to know. If shelters look at theirnumbers and see they are getting alot of dogs from a particular pet store,they can take action on that.”

Shelters operating in puppy millterritory can attest to the truth ofShain’s conviction: Citizens whofind out about the conditions of theanimals in mass-breeding facilitiesoften turn to their local shelter forhelp. But in many cases, a sheltermay not have the authority to act—and even where they do, a puppymill bust can be a massive burdenon an organization already taxedby day-to-day operations. The costsof a large-scale seizure can be enor-mous, and the operation is likelyto exhaust staff and fill all the exist-ing space in a typical facility. If youranimal shelter received a complaintregarding a large-scale breedingoperation, would your staff be pre-pared to investigate and rescue sev-eral hundred animals at once?

A handful of animal sheltersacross the country have alreadydone so—and, in the followingprofiles, they offer advice to col-leagues embarking on their firstjourney into puppy mill mayhem.

“The people who unwittingly support this industryare dog lovers. The puppy mill industry preys onthe emotions of people who love dogs.”

Missouri is the most notoriousof all the puppy-producing

states, leading the nation in puppyexports with more than 1,400licensed commercial breeders. Andif that number sounds high, itpales in comparison to the esti-mated 2,500 unlicensed breedersin the state. But the distinctionsare little more than theoretical.Though logic dictates that unli-censed operations would be worse,Missouri has such a bad trackrecord of ignoring violations incommercial breeding facilities thata facility’s possession of a licenseis almost meaningless.

In February 2001, Missouri StateAuditor Claire McCaskill con-

ducted an audit of the MissouriDepartment of Agriculture regula-tory program that oversees com-mercial breeders. She identifiedseveral areas of concern: spottystate inspections that resulted infew sanctions and that were lessthorough than federal inspections;an appearance of conflict of inter-est in top management becauseprogram heads also owned andoperated breeding operations; andlax program performance meas-ures. Media reports on the auditrevealed that puppy productionwas a $2 billion-a-year industry inMissouri.

Three years later, McCaskill con-ducted a follow-up audit. She

Puppies from a Missouri bust get a ride to safety inside a

staffer’s t-shirt.

MISSOURI: Head of the Class

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found that little had been done by the Missouri Department ofAgriculture to correct the problemsoutlined in her original report. Of her nine recommendations for improvement, only one hadbeen fully implemented.

What had changed during thoseyears was the intensity of the back-lash from the Missouri Pet BreedersAssociation. During the 2002 statelegislative session, breeders pushedfor a law that would have made ita felony violation to take photo-graphs inside a commercial breed-ing facility without the owner’s con-sent. Photographs are the evidencemost commonly used by crueltyinvestigators seeking warrants. Todate, the photo ban bill hasn’tpassed—largely due to exhaustivelobbying efforts by the MissouriAlliance for Animal Legislation. Butfears of the bill’s potential successstill lurk with each new session.

With little intervention from stateinspectors, Missouri puppy milloperators have prospered. Formany of the dogs housed in thesefacilities, help comes only from theHumane Society of Missouri in St.Louis—mostly because there is noother animal welfare organization

in the state big enough to handlelarge-scale rescue operations. Butthe positive results of such rescuesare well worth the demands placedon staff, volunteers, and budgets,says vice president of operationsDebbie Hill, who oversees rescuesand investigations.

Investigating the PropertyPuppy mill investigations at theHumane Society of Missouri usu-ally begin after someone observesthe conditions on a puppy millproperty and files an anonymouscomplaint with the rescue andinvestigations division. Since mostpuppy mills are located in ruralareas, the complaint is usuallyassigned to one of the organization’sstatewide cruelty investigators.

The organization first takes aneducational approach; an investi-gator tries to talk to the operatorof the business with the hope thatsome suggestions—and the opera-tor’s desire to avoid future legaltrouble—will encourage improve-ments. Unfortunately, contactingthe owner to discuss the originalcomplaint can prove difficult, sincepuppy mill operators disguise theirbreeding operations behind banks

of trees, set far back from the pub-lic road on properties canvassedwith “No Trespassing” signs.

If educational attempts fail tobring the breeder into compliancewith the Animal Care FacilitiesAct—a Missouri state law that setsstandards for a variety of animal-related businesses, including shel-ters—the investigator seeks assis-tance from local law enforcementin procuring a search warrant.“There have been cases in the pastwhere the sheriff’s department hasdone a fly-over with a helicopteror small plane,” says Hill.

Once the warrant is served andthe property entered, the investi-gator must embark on what Hillrefers to as a “CSI-type approach,”likening the experience to the pop-ular television crime drama. “Isometimes half-joke and half-seri-ously say this is CSI St. Louis,” shesays. “You’re not just the investi-gator; you’re the evidence techni-cian on these scenes, documentingthe scene as it is found, videotap-ing the property and conditions.Your report and the live animalsthemselves are the evidence.”

Investigators gather water and foodsamples, collect any medicinesfound, and remove deceased animalsso a necropsy can reveal the cause ofdeath. While on the property, inves-tigators also document signs of neg-lect such as lack of food or water,unsafe caging systems, unsanitaryconditions, untreated medical issues,and other violations of the AnimalCare Facilities Act.

“Sometimes in these large-scaleoperations, you learn that theowner might be administeringsome home remedy or collectingmedicine from other sources andactually doing more harm thangood. They might also have thingsin their custody that they should-n’t,” Hill says. “You always, always,always look in the refrigerator orfreezer. You might find a dead ani-

Veterinarian

Donald Bridges

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rescued puppy’s

heartbeat during

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mal in there or something elseimportant to the case.”

Hill advises other organizationsto keep a timeline in mind duringtheir investigations. “You aren’tgoing to just seize these animals;this is a process,” she says. “Youneed to have some legal counsellined up and perhaps your boardof directors to walk you throughthe legal process.”

Keeping a close working rela-tionship with law enforcement offi-cers is also important, says Hill.“You might be guiding law enforce-ment through this process,” shesays. “If that initial warrant isn’twritten correctly, you might not getfinal custody of these animals. Theworst thing is that you’ll have to

return these animals to the breeder.” Training staff to assist with puppy

mill cases is a must, says Tim Rickey,assistant director of rescues andinvestigations at the Humane Societyof Missouri. “Bring in people whohave law enforcement experiencecombined with people with animalexperience,” he says. “These arecriminal investigations that need tobe conducted legally and ethically.Take advantage of the national cru-elty investigation schools as well aslocal colleges and universities.”

Training in cruelty investigations

can help staff stay focused on therealities of each situation and helpthem document each case appro-priately and dispassionately. “Wedon’t investigate puppy millsbecause they are ‘puppy mills’—we are looking at the care of theanimals,” Rickey says. “Our ideol-ogy is left out of it; we focus onstate law. During the court phase,our investigator has to be able togo into a court of law and com-municate in a manner the judgecan understand. Your reports haveto be thorough; you have to followup with the shelter staff and vet-erinarians.”

Shelters should consider the fol-lowing questions before movingforward with any animal rescue

efforts, says Hill: Where are the ani-mals going to go? Do you have theability to maintain these animals?“You aren’t doing anyone a favor ifyou don’t have the facilities or per-sonnel available to provide care.These animals are going to comein with serious medical needs andbehavior issues,” she says.

If your organization isn’t well-positioned in the community, andif you don’t have the support oftrained staff and volunteers, youwon’t be prepared for the stresses ofa large-scale rescue.

Rescue and TriageFor the rescue operation itself, theshelter enlists the aid of a third-party veterinarian to examine theanimals on the property and deter-mine if removing them immedi-ately is necessary—and legal. (Inmany jurisdictions, prematureseizure of animals kept in condi-tions that don’t clearly violate anylaws can ruin a case.) When largenumbers of animals do have to beseized, the “all-hands-on-deck”approach is set in motion.

“It could be 5 or 6 or up to 25 to27 employees on-site for a largerrescue,” Hill says. “The lead inves-tigator oversees documenting theanimals. The animals are taken backto the shelter, where 25 more peo-

ple will triage those animals. Vets,vet techs, and other animal spe-cialists will examine and begin treat-ing those animals upon arrival.”

It’s a labor-intensive process thatinvolves shaving animals, cleaningeyes and ears, administering painmedicine, and giving animals baths,says Hill. Even though all animalsare photographed and catalogued atthe site of the rescue, staff back at theshelter photograph them once againduring triage. The animals are givennames, assigned numbers, examinedby a veterinarian who documents

Brandy Turnbough, an exam room attendant at the Humane Society of Missouri,

takes a blood sample from a rescued puppy mill dog.

With nearly 20 veterinarians on staff, the Humane Society ofMissouri’s animal hospital is ready to kickinto high gear following a puppy mill bust.


physical ailments and body condi-tions, and finally handed over to ani-mal care staff who will make themcomfortable in clean, safe cages withfresh food and water during their firstnight at the animal shelter. Since theanimals are evidence in a criminalcase, they are held separately fromthe rest of the shelter population ina special holding space.

Veterinarians play a critical roleat this stage; medical documenta-

tion at the time of triage is one ofthe most powerful forms of evi-dence for these cases.

With nearly 20 veterinarians onstaff, the Humane Society ofMissouri’s animal hospital is readyto kick into high gear following apuppy mill bust. “In triage, we aretaking care of emergency issues,”says director of veterinary servic-es Donald Bridges, DVM. “We vac-cinate them regardless of their sta-tus, clip their nails, weigh them,treat them with a flea product thatalso kills mange even though wedon’t yet know if they have it. Onthe next day, we do individualizedtreatment plans for each dog.”

Typically, the animals seized inpuppy mill busts require a med-ical treatment plan. Their rehabil-itation can take several weeks ormonths and can cost thousands ofdollars per animal, depending onthe severity of the issues and

required treatments. These dogsare usually plagued by internalparasites, dental disease, fleas andticks, dehydration, and eye, ear,and skin problems. Many will havefestering wounds or improperlyhealed injuries that will requiresurgery at a later date. Some ofthese bald, mangy creatures maybe simultaneously pregnant andemaciated.

Genetic health issues includeoverbites and underbites, hip dys-plasia, congenital cataracts,deformed eyelids, and heart mur-murs—all of which should haveprecluded animals from being usedas “breeding stock” in the firstplace, says Bridges. “A good breed-er would no longer breed such ani-mals,” he says. “They would havethem spayed or neutered and findthem a new home.”

For shelters without veterinarystaff to assist in triage and treatmentof the animals, Bridges suggestsretaining a veterinarian with a mixedpractice of large and small animals.An understanding of herd healthissues will be helpful during therehabilitation process. “But mostimportantly, familiarize yourselfwith the conditions that are seen inthese cases and take the time to trainthe staff because they can be taughtto recognize normal and abnormalhealth issues,” Bridges says.

Rehabilitation and Adoption Once the animals have settled in atthe shelter, the real work begins—a long-term process of rehabilitat-ing dogs who have spent theirentire lives crammed into cageswith little human interaction.Animal care staff and behavioristsare vital to this part of the journey.

Exam room attendant BrandyTurnbough has helped with bustsseveral times in her seven years atthe Humane Society of Missouri.The morning following triage,Turnbough arrives at the shelter

knowing the coming weeks willoverwhelm her. Yet she is stillpleased to see new friends she canmake happy, safe, and comfortableas they begin recovering.

Turnbough works closely withLinda Campbell, a licensed veteri-nary technician who has spentmore than 25 years at the HumaneSociety of Missouri. Campbell hasextensive animal behavior trainingand serves as the shelter’s directorof programs. Always involved withthe behavior assessment of rescuedpuppy mill dogs, she developsexercises and protocols to teach thedogs to trust people.

It is not an easy undertaking. “Adog that misses out on crucialsocialization and environmentalenrichment for the first fourmonths of their life is challengedfor the rest of their life,” Campbellsays. “Most of these dogs frompuppy mills are denied that oppor-tunity and grow up in a void. Oncethey reach an adult age, they can-not make up for what they lost.”

Campbell describes rescuedpuppy mill dogs as unsure ofhumans. “They have no positiveexperience with people, they maydislike being petted or any type ofphysical handling, and they tendto hide from people,” she says, not-ing that many puppy mill dogsdon’t even know how to play withother dogs. “They usually have tworeactions: they either bolt or theyfreeze and don’t move when beinghandled. They don’t have the reac-tion of most dogs—they don’t wig-gle. If you have to handle them ona table, they just stand there anddon’t move.”

The initial focus of rehabilitationis getting the dogs into a routinethat helps them accept their care-takers. “First off, we don’t handlethem unnecessarily. We give themtime to settle in, relax, and getaccustomed to their new environ-ment. We hold them in an area

Debbie Hill, vice

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examines a puppy

on-site during a

puppy mill raid.

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where there isn’t a lot of noise orstimuli so they can settle down,”Campbell says. “We perform a basicevaluation on the dog to look forsigns of aggression, but mostpuppy mill dogs don’t have aggres-sive problems because they tend tobe in the freeze mode. The major-ity are very passive.”

Depending on dogs’ ages and thelength of time they spent in thepuppy mill, some respond quickly.Others never truly bond with peo-ple, never conquer their fears, andare never fully housetrained.“When we deal with a fearful adultdog, we ask someone to walk bytheir cage and drop in especiallytasty treats. You never make directeye contact, as that will increasefear in the dog,” Campbell says.Usually puppies are much quick-er to respond, so the staff works

with litters extensively, teachingthem to play and accept handlingand grooming.

While the shelter focuses on reha-bilitation, lawyers and investiga-tors work to gain protections forthe animals in court. The prose-cuting attorney in the case usual-ly files criminal animal neglectcharges. Prior to criminal pro-ceedings, the cruelty investigatorand sometimes the case veterinar-ian appear at a disposition hearing,a civil court process—usually heldwithin two weeks of the rescue—inwhich a judge determines whetherthe shelter will gain legal custody ofthe animals. The breeders have theopportunity to post a bond for theanimals but often fail to appear orsend legal representation. Legalcustody thereby defaults to theHumane Society of Missouri, and

then the shelter can begin screen-ing animals for adoption.

Although adoption is the hopefor each of the rescued dogs,Campbell offers a reality check:you aren’t going to be able to reha-bilitate every one. “It is very chal-lenging working with these dogs,”she says. “If you set up guidelinesand are consistent, you will havesome success. These animals camefrom a bad situation and we oweit to them to do what is best forthem—even if that means euthana-sia—because they should not haveto suffer anymore.”

Turnbough waits to see a sparklereturn to the dogs’ faces, butsometimes it’s permanently gone.“Beyond the medical reasons oftheir bodies not responding, whentheir emotions don’t respond andthe light doesn’t come back in



their eyes—it’s time to draw aline,” she says. “It’s not fair tomake them sit and wonder whatis going on around them whenyou realize they will never movebeyond that point.”

Once Turnbough identifies thatline, she spoils the dogs as best shecan, filling their cages with stuffedanimals, cushy comforters, and

toys filled with chicken livers,peanut butter, and scrambledeggs—no longer as incentives tostart eating but as some glimmerof happiness in their day. “If theyhave to sit in the cage mentally mis-erable, at least they can be physi-cally happy,” she says.

For those dogs who respond tomedical treatment and socializa-tion, Campbell recruits volunteersto assist with the behavior modifi-cation process. “We have a canineplay school with a list of protocolsfor each volunteer to work on. Ifthe animal is adopted, we let theadopter know what we’ve beendoing so they can continue,” shesays. “It’s tailored for each dog—wedon’t want to push the dogs too farbecause we want a positive experi-ence. We try not to have anyone

who administers the medical pro-cedure on the dogs work on behav-ior modification because the dogmight not have a positive associa-tion with that person. So we havea consistent person providing med-ical treatments and a consistent per-son providing socialization. … Fordogs, as well as for people, there isnothing as fearful as the unknown.”

Anyone planning to adopt a for-mer puppy mill animal must beprepared for serious challenges.Even once they’ve gone throughtreatment and into the home of aloving family, those early experi-ences can be difficult to overcome.Campbell has seen several puppymill dogs adopted to owners will-ing to accept the difficulties of car-ing for an animal who may be rid-dled with anxieties and physicalailments. “The average personthinks all they need to do is cud-dle them, hug them, and showthem a lot of love. But they canactually make the behavior worsebecause [cuddling can be] extreme-ly stressful and fearful for thesedogs,” Campbell says. “They dowell in a home where they areallowed a quiet place for them-

selves. Things like the telephoneringing, the doorbell ringing, oreven the television can be difficult.”

The week after Bob and AlexaHull adopted a puppy mill dognamed Bibi from the HumaneSociety of Missouri, they worriedthey had made a mistake. Bibi, abichon frise, was riddled with sep-aration anxiety. She’d never even

been in a house before.“She followed us all day, and if

she lost sight of us, she wouldpanic,” says Alexa Hull, who hasvolunteered at the shelter for 12years. “When we would leave fordinner, she would run around thehouse urinating and defecating. Ittook at least six months before sherealized that when we leave, we[are] coming back. We had to stopfeeding birds in the backyardbecause she has been conditionedto eat anything that is put in frontof her—birdseed or dirt.”

Adopters and fosterers of puppymill dogs need to be aware of thebehavior issues, says Hull: “It takeshuge amounts of time, patience,and paper towels.”

The Humane Society of Missouri’sadoption selection process favors

Dirty water bowls

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“We have a canineplay school with alist of protocols foreach volunteer towork on. If the animal is adopted,we let the adopterknow what we’vebeen doing so theycan continue.”

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people who’ve been pet ownersbefore. “When you have a special-needs animal requiring a lot ofpatience and socialization, we don’twant to place them with a first-timepet owner,” Campbell says. It’shelpful if the applicant has experi-ence with the same breed or alreadyhas another pet in the home, espe-cially an outgoing, well-socialized

dog who can serve as a role modelfor the puppy mill dog. Adoptionsare not usually granted to house-holds with small children, since thepuppy mill dogs probably have lit-tle or no experience with kids.

“We don’t want people or chil-dren to be injured, and we don’twant it to be a bad experience forthe dog either,” Campbell says. Forsome of the older puppy mill dogswith high energy, the shelter prefersto place the dog with someone whois home most of the time; very shydogs won’t need the constant com-panionship and do well in a homewhere people work all day andinteract with the dog in theevening. “We try to make a matchfor the dog’s need and what thepeople are able to provide for theanimal,” Campbell says.

Only weeks after assisting withthe Katrina relief effort in

Mississippi, staff members at theHumane Society of Vero Beach &Indian River County were assault-ed with a whole new storm: apuppy mill rescue of more than 150springer spaniels and dachshunds.

Like Missouri, the state of Floridacategorizes puppies as an agricul-tural commodity. “Animals inFlorida are considered chattel—no different than a breadbox,” saysIlka Daniel, the shelter’s directorof outreach services and crueltyinvestigation.

During puppy mill busts, Danielfocuses on maintaining the chain ofevidence. It’s not the touchy-feelyside of rescue work, but it’s vital. “Ifwe mishandle our evidence, it canblow the entire case. It is very impor-tant that each and every piece of evi-dence is logged accurately with vet-erinary statements as support,”Daniel says. “If we are the leaders inour field, law enforcement can cometo us if we conduct ourselves pro-fessionally. Remember, you’re deal-ing with the legal system and theytend to look at us as tree huggers.”

Take your time when conductingan investigation, Daniel advises. “It

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rescue cost the shelter about$60,000, including staff overtime.“We budget every year lookingback five years to see how muchwe spend,” Carlson says. “Ourboard of directors and senior staffbelieve we cannot be driven by thebudget when it comes to cruelty.We accept the responsibility of theexpenses. The community sees thatwe’re helping, which improves our

credibility—public relations andour donations have gone up!”

Working a large bust means longhours for staff and a change in stan-dard operating procedures. Carlsonbrings in food for her staff andwatches to make sure no one isstretched too thin; she wants theentire staff to feel they’re part of theinvestigation. “It’s important toremind them why we do this,” shesays. “They all realize this is a partof crisis management. We show thevideo of the investigation so staff seeswhy the animals were removed.”

Volunteers help enormouslywhen the organization takes on res-cues, explains Van DeMars, asso-ciate director for the HumaneSociety of Vero Beach. “We have aspecial group of volunteers whoinstill discipline in the dogs, helpthem gain confidence,” he says.“We have an obstacle course inback, and they do things they’venever done before, like play ingrass, because they’ve spent most oftheir lives on concrete or in cages.”

Volunteers undergo special train-ing with the on-staff behavioristbefore working with puppy millseizures. “We don’t have the vol-

is imperative to sit and gather factsto make sure you have a thorough,solid case,” she says. The HumaneSociety of Vero Beach retains inde-pendent veterinarians and usuallytakes two with them onto a puppymill property. The veterinariansserve as witnesses and help docu-ment medical evidence.

Even though the organization isendowed with good emergency

resources—including a newly con-structed facility that can serve asboth a hurricane shelter and a hold-ing space for large seizures—Danielstill seeks assistance with rescueoperations from other agencies andnational organizations like TheHumane Society of the UnitedStates. “HSUS has always beenavailable to back us up,” she says.“They make us feel like one big fam-ily, and there are other shelters thatwill step up to the plate to help.”

In assessing the extent and natureof the challenges they face in theircommunity, the staff of the HumaneSociety of Vero Beach attempt totrack the origins of relinquisheddogs whenever possible. Of thosethey’ve been able to track, 40 per-cent originate from a backyardbreeder, pet store, or puppy mill,says executive director Joan Carlson.

“Those selling the dogs are get-ting craftier, and there is little con-sumer protection,” she says. “Wehave a lemon law in Florida, andyet very few people who purchasea sick animal will actually go tosmall claims court instead ofexchanging for a new puppy.”

Carlson estimates the springer


unteers provide a lot of TLC,”DeMars says. “With the traumaticcases, we try to stay away fromdoing that. We focus more onteaching them confidence insteadof cuddling.”

DeMars admits it is extremely dif-ficult for the staff to take in so manyanimals in need. “If you take in 150puppy mill animals, it is probablythe equivalent of 200 to 250 ani-mals from the street,” he says.“They all have special diets, requirespecial baths, medical needs. Justmaintaining the workload andcleaning up after them while try-ing to balance out the normal oper-ation of the shelter is stressful. Thelast thing we want, and we do notallow it, is to put down animals thatare coming in normally because weare stretched.”

Through the staff behaviorist, freecounseling is provided to anyoneadopting a puppy mill dog. “Weprovide free obedience training andconsultation,” DeMars says. “Wedon’t have veterinarians on staff,but depending on the adopter andtheir financial status, we help asmuch as we can with any medicalexpenses.”

Though the encroachment onresources can seem staggering,DeMars implores other animalshelters to tackle this issue intheir communities. “Do not beafraid to take on a puppy milland bring in 100 or 200 animalsin your shelter,” he says. “Do notlet it continue to fester. I can seehow some shelters would nothave that expertise and might befrightened by taking on a largepuppy mill.”

But “taking them out of a horri-ble life and watching them walkout the door as pets versus objects”is one of the most rewarding activ-ities a shelter can undertake, saysDeMars. “It’s a tremendous burdenon the shelter emotionally, but thepayoff is very, very rewarding.”

THE HUMANE SOCIETY OF THE UNITED STATES


Pennsylvania carries the nick-name “Puppy Mill Capital of the

East.” Although rural LancasterCounty is home to the greatest con-centration of puppy mills, anorganization in the suburbs ofPhiladelphia conducted a huge res-cue last February—from a manwho, at one time, had a good rep-utation as a hobby breeder spe-cializing in papillons and KingCharles cavalier spaniels. Unlikethe many commercial breeders inMissouri, he was not selling to bro-kers or pet stores; he was using his

website to sell puppies to con-sumers all over the country.

What the Chester County SPCAfound on the property was hardlya hobby. Investigators discoveredbuilding after building with cagesstacked one on top of another,floors covered in feces, rats scur-rying through the buildings and up walls. Some dogs were sim-ply roaming the property. SusanSpackman, executive director ofthe West Chester-based organiza-tion, recalls finding an English bull-dog actually eating rat poison.

“The rusty cages were filthy, withdogs balancing on wire caging,”she says. “There were buckets ofwater on the floor with a gray filmand gelatinous blobs floating inthe water. The stench was over-powering.”

The on-site rescue lasted from1:30 p.m. to 3 a.m. More than 300animals were removed. Whereasthe Humane Society of Missourihas a custom-built rescue trailerthat can transport 100 small dogsin cages back to the shelter, ChesterCounty SPCA staff had to use any

PENNYSLVANIA:The Beast of the East

A few words fromthe author …My dog probably doesn’t remember being rescuedfrom a puppy mill. I doubt he recalls being soakedin urine, balancing on a feces-caked grate, or hav-ing to fight other dogs for food. I hope his memoryhas blocked the stench of neglect that emanated

throughout the facility where hewas born. He was only six weeksold when the Humane Society ofMissouri rescued him and near-ly 100 other dogs and puppiesfrom a substandard breedingfacility in Fenton, Missouri, in2002. He has probably forgot-ten. But I cannot. The puppy mill where my dog

was born was closed due to theinvestigation and rescue conducted by the HumaneSociety of Missouri. The property was condemned,the breeder’s license revoked, and the MissouriAttorney General filed legal action based on 16individual consumer complaints to the BetterBusiness Bureau.

It wasn’t the only time I witnessed such crueltyat the hands of a mass breeder whose operationsare bolstered by a public that doesn’t understandand a system that looks the other way. During myseven years as manager of public relations at theHumane Society of Missouri, whose efforts I profilein the articles on these pages, we rescued hundredsof animals from puppy mills each year.

I sometimes look at my dog and wonder whathis life might have entailed if he hadn’t been res-cued four years ago. He might still be living inthat same puppy mill as part of the cycle of neg-lect. Or he might have been one of the lucky pup-pies sold to a broker and purchased by a lovingfamily who would spoil him as I do now.Regardless of what his future might have held,having him as my companion constantly remindsme of the thousands of dogs living in misery wait-ing to be rescued from a puppy mill—a life not fitfor a dog.

Katherine McGowan has spent the past decade rais-ing awareness about puppy mills and has participat-ed in many large-scale rescues. She is a consultantfor the Companion Animals section of The HumaneSociety of the United States. She lives in St. Louis withher shih tzu and three cats.

vehicle they could find to transportthe animals.

“We have two ambulances and ajeep vehicle,” Spackman says.“People were using their own carsto get the animals back to the shel-ter. Once at our shelter, we actual-ly used up all the hot water tryingto clean. I think I left the shelter at4 o’clock in the morning—it real-ly was a 24-hour process.”

Chuck McDevitt, manager ofpublic relations for the organiza-tion, encourages quickly engagingthe media in a puppy mill case.“Involve the media from the begin-ning,” he suggests. “They werecontinually running our requestsfor product donation and financialcontributions. People saw the storyand contacted us saying that theyhad purchased a dog from thisbreeder. We later had the optionto bring those people forward inthe case.”

In response to the media cover-age, the shelter was also flush withblankets, beds, and other donationsthat helped keep the animals com-fortable.

The puppy mill dogs in thePennsylvania case manifested thesame physical ailments as foundin Missouri puppy mill dogs—mange, lice, ear mites, infected

eyes and ears, and dental prob-lems—but with the added com-plication of parvovirus. Behaviorchallenges were the same. “Theydidn’t know how to be dogs,” saysSpackman. “Everything was new—interacting with people, discover-ing grass, toys.”

McDevitt recalled that the maleswere especially challenging. “Theyweren’t as accustomed to people,”he said. “It was upsetting to putthem on the floor and see that theydidn’t know what to do.”

Chester County SPCA has about30 staff members and usually hous-es about 110 animals at a time. Toconduct the rescue, staff collabo-rated with breed rescue groups,veterinarians, and other animalagencies able to help house thepuppy mill dogs.

Although the bust and aftermathwere overwhelming and stressful, thestaff recognized this was the time tobe heroic, Spackman says. “We triedto do various things to rewardthem—we gave them a day off withpay to reward them, pizza, thank-younotes. We got a note of praise fromthe assistant district attorney aboutthe humane officers and the profes-sionalism of the staff and how theyworked endless hours on this case.We posted that for the staff to see.”

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Rescuers from the Chester County SPCA found more than 300 animals on-site when

they busted this puppy mill early this year.

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The task was huge, but “how couldyou not do it?” asks Spackman. “Atleast with us, the dogs had cleancages, towels, food, water, and med-ical care.”

The results speak for themselves:The primary breeder was chargedwith 337 counts of animal cruel-ty. The animals were with theChester County SPCA fromFebruary through late June, whenthey were finally allowed to be putup for adoption. McDevitt remem-bers having people camped out toadopt the dogs—more than 500interested adopters showed up atthe shelter. The breeder and hiscohorts were found guilty in lateApril. They appealed but wereultimately put on probation for 15years and not allowed to handleor own animals. Restitutionowed to the Chester County SPCA totals $122,000.

Given the pain inflicted on theanimals, the sentence might at firstseem less than fair. But considerthe usual results, says CurtRansom, a former cruelty investi-gator who is now program manag-er for The HSUS’s West CoastRegional Office. A “normal sen-tence would be no days to 10 days

Even if you have to go in and get afew animals to get the evidence,then take a few. Do not ignore thesituation because you can’t takethem all.”

And don’t get too hung up ongetting a conviction. “Get them tostop doing it on the scale that theyare doing it,” he says. “If all youdo is get them out of the busi-ness—great!” ❂

Cramped quarters and overcrowding are typical of puppy mill conditions. Many mass

breeders favor small dogs; more animals can be kept in less space, which makes for

more sales.

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in jail, restitution to the shelter car-ing for the animals, and then pro-bation, which would normally betwo or three years,” Ransom says.

Holding breeders responsible fortheir actions is the main goal,Ransom says, and even a probationsentence can help accomplish that.Ransom understands: He spent 10years as director of rescue and inves-tigations at the Humane Society ofMissouri. He recognizes that shel-ters across the nation are over-whelmed by the prospect of inves-tigating a puppy mill and housinghundreds of dogs in the aftermath ofa rescue. And it’s a legitimate worry:Many shelters don’t have the exten-sive resources—money, staff andspace—to tackle such large-scalebreeding operations.

But even smaller organizationscan help chip away at nasty mass-breeding facilities. “My advice toany animal control officer or anyhumane society is that if you seeabuse, you can still file on themeven if you don’t take any animals,”Ransom says. “As part of their pro-bation, have the animals dispersed.You might not be able to rescuethose animals, but you can preventthe breeder from hurting them. …

Stop Puppy MillsWant to fight puppy mills in your community orenlist public support for the cause? Order the newDog Saver’s Kit from The Humane Society of theUnited States. The $3 kit contains printed materi-als, letter templates, model legislation, and othertools to help advocates get started. For more infor-mation, visit www.StopPuppyMills.com, or contactyour regional representative for The HumaneSociety of the United States through www.hsus.org.


I was very flattered when the edi-tor of Animal Sheltering, one of themost respected venues for infor-mation about shelter medicine,asked me to share the writing of theregular shelter medicine columnwith Kate Hurley. One of the biggestchallenges of such an assignmentis selecting one topic from the hun-dreds I could write about. But formy first column, I decided to fol-low the precedent set by Dr. Hurleyby providing some informationabout my background in the field.

I confess that I never envisioneda career working with shelter ani-mals. My only experience with ashelter was when my family adopt-ed a puppy from the ASPCA whenI was about five years old. At six, Idecided to become a veterinarian,

but when I eventually graduatedfrom Cornell University’s College ofVeterinary Medicine, I had no long-term career goals. I knew I want-ed to return to New York City towork, but I didn’t want to plungeinto private practice. Nor did I wantto intern at another venue where Iwould learn more of the same “hightech” medicine that I knew theclients I most wanted to serve—those in inner-city neighborhoods—would not be able to afford.

After performing sterilizationsthrough a veterinary student extern-ship program at the ASPCA’s HenryBergh Memorial Hospital, I want-ed to return to do an internship.The program ended just before mygraduation, but another job oppor-tunity presented itself through theASPCA’s animal control contractwith New York City. But afteraccompanying the supervising vet-erinarian on a few very depressingvisits, I thought it was one of thelast places I wanted to work. Sowhen he first suggested I work withhim to develop shelter health careprotocols, I was very hesitant.Shelter medicine was unheard ofat the time. There were no guide-lines available for providing vet-erinary care for shelter animals, sowe would be basically on our own,

armed only with the support of theorganization, his years of practi-cal experience, and my new degreeto guide us. Although resourceswere limited, improving the care ofthe animals was a priority for theorganization, which was handlingmore than 85,000 animals in fiveshelters that were open 24 hours aday, 7 days a week. I agreed to giveit a try, planning to be there for ayear or so while I figured out whatI really wanted to do.

That was more than 25 yearsago. The challenges were enor-mous, and, needless to say, wewere sometimes very discouraged.Changes didn’t happen overnight,and the staff and volunteers did-n’t always cooperate—I am surethis sounds familiar to many of you.We weren’t always sure that ourimprovements would actually work,for what seemed good in theory oron paper didn’t always work out inpractice. But we persevered. Allanimals received complete physi-cal examinations almost as soon asthey entered the facility. We iden-tified and segregated adoptable ani-mals from the general population,then vaccinated and dewormedthem. Sick animals were either iso-lated and treated or euthanized.Treatment protocols and better

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New Columnist Joins Animal ShelteringMeet the new Doc—not the same as the old Doc.

In response to the success of Dr. Kate Hurley’s veterinary column, AnimalSheltering is increasing its coverage of shelter medicine issues. This departmentwill run in every issue, with authorship rotating between Dr. Hurley and our newcolumnist, Dr. Lila Miller of the ASPCA. Your shelter veterinary news source isnow bicoastal!

We’re delighted to have Dr. Miller sharing the space with Dr. Hurley, and we look forward to learning from their columns.

BY L I L A M I LLE R, DVM

47SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2006 WWW.ANIMALSHELTERING.ORG


recordkeeping systems were put inplace. Although several “experts”said it couldn’t be done because ofthe sheer number of animals wehandled, we switched fromeuthanasia by decompressionchamber to intravenous injectionof pentobarbital—at a time when itwas not unusual for more than 100animals to be euthanized daily. Wecategorized animals by health sta-tus for adoption, and we held train-ing classes in animal handling andbasic behavior assessment for allstaff. A large part of my job wasexamining and treating animalsheld for longer periods due to ongo-ing cruelty cases. The work was dif-ficult, and heartbreaking at times,but also enormously satisfying.

After I’d spent five years doinghands-on work in the shelter, theASPCA asked me to run a small out-

patient clinic in its new shelter in oneof New York City’s most impoverishedneighborhoods in Brooklyn whilecontinuing to supervise the shelterhealth program. The clinic wasdesigned to provide better care forthe shelter animals and low-cost carefor already owned pets. We got off toa slow start, with one technician andone receptionist working with me inone exam room, but the demand forservice quickly proved to be extraor-dinary. The Brooklyn clinic added asurgical suite, installed radiograph-ic equipment, set up contracts to

perform blood work and EKGs, andhired additional staff.

After 15 years of providing low-cost quality care and spay/neuterservices to the community and shel-ter, the Brooklyn clinic closed; theASPCA had relinquished the con-tract for animal control two yearsearlier. I was then offered anotherjob as veterinary advisor and direc-tor in the newly formed animal sci-ences department of the ASPCA. Iinvited several prominent veterinarybehaviorists, dog trainers, and pub-lic policymakers to a Dangerous DogSummit to probe the issues of han-dling dangerous dogs, and I wrotean article for American Humaneabout how veterinarians could rec-ognize and document animal abuse.I provided veterinary expertise fora variety of ASPCA projects and vis-ited shelters around the country to

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THE WORK WASDIFFICULT, AND

HEARTBREAKING AT TIMES, BUT ALSO

ENORMOUSLYSATISFYING.

help them deal with their medicalproblems. My days were filled withrequests for information about avariety of veterinary topics.

In 1998, I was asked to co-teachan elective course with Dr. JanetScarlett at Cornell University. It wascalled “Issues and Opportunitiesin Shelter Medicine,” and althoughI was concerned about my abilityto lecture professionally at my almamater, I jumped at the chance tobe the first to bring a formal coursein shelter medicine to a veterinarycollege. The first class was held in1999 with 9 students. (In 2005there were 30.) After the first year,we could see there was a definiteneed for a textbook in shelter med-icine, so Dr. Stephen Zawistowskiand I drew up a proposal to edit atext that was accepted by Iowa StatePress (now Blackwell Publishing).

Shelter Medicine for Veterinariansand Staff became a reality in 2004,and Kate Hurley and I have beguncollaboration on another sheltermedicine textbook that will focussolely on the management of infec-tious disease in shelters.

My current posit ion at theASPCA is Vice President ofVeterinary Outreach and VeterinaryAdvisor. In addition to advising, lec-turing, and writing about sheltermedicine, I also teach about theveterinarian’s role in investigatingand reporting animal cruelty. Isupervise a program that focuseson bringing spay/neuter programsto local communities and univer-sities, and I serve as president ofthe Association of ShelterVeterinarians and on the NationalBoard of Veterinary MedicalExaminers and the board of the

American Association of Human-Animal Bond Veterinarians.

I don’t think that anyone couldhave predicted that my first posi-tion as an animal care supervisorin a shelter, a job that was oncedeemed a final resting place forretired or incompetent veterinari-ans, would become a respectablecareer choice; nor could anyonehave foreseen that shelter medi-cine would become recognized asa veterinary specialty. As I thinkback to the seemingly insur-mountable obstacles the ASPCAhad to overcome in order to realizeits potential to become a nationalleader in the movement to improvethe lives of animals, my messageto other shelters that are facing sim-ilar, overwhelming circumstancesis to continue to persevere—because anything is possible. ❂


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models&MENTORS

WHO SHE IS: Collette Blanchette, a realestate agent in California

WHAT SHE DOES: Finds and sells homesfor humans—and while she’s at it, findshomes for local shelter pets

WHAT SHE HOPES: That companiesaround the country will borrow her ideato help reduce pet overpopulation

Helping People Buy and Sell Homes—and Putting Pets in Them, TooReal estate agent creates program to promote shelter adoption

BY K AT I N A ANTON IADE S

“Free” is a word you don’t hearvery often during the process ofbuying a house. The house

inspection, the appraisal, the closing costs—pretty much the only thing you don’t haveto pay for is the smorgasbord of snacks yoursettlement company provides to munch onat closing.

Clients of Brubaker-Culton, a real estatecompany in southern California, receivesomething much more special thanmunchies when they buy—or sell—ahouse: the opportunity to adopt or steril-ize a pet free of charge. The companybegan its “Free Pet with Purchase” pro-gram earlier this year after one of its agentspitched the idea.

The plan to find pets for clients andnew homes for shelter animals grew out

of a loss. Last fall, real estate agent ColletteBlanchette’s two Yorkshire terriers, Cujoand Scruffy, got loose and disappeared.They were never found, despite help fromboth a pet detective and a bloodhound.

While searching for her dogs, Blanchettefrequently checked for them at the RamonaHumane Society in San Jacinto, often vis-iting two or three times a day. While shedidn’t find her dogs, what she saw therespurred her into action. “Going in therewas so sad because there are so many ani-mals,” she says. “We have a relatively smallcity, but they’re just euthanizing so manyanimals every year because of overpopu-lation, and people just not caring, so I want-ed to do something to alleviate the situa-tion in some small way.”

Blanchette approached Brubaker-Culton and the Ramona Humane Societywith a proposal to which they both agreed:the company would offer a voucher forthe adoption of a pet from the shelter toclients who bought or sold a house throughthe company. If an individual or familyalready had a pet who happened to beunsterilized, the voucher would be goodfor one free spay or neuter surgery.

Brubaker-Culton now promotes the“Free Pet with Purchase” in every adver-tisement it prints; the company has offeredhundreds of adoption vouchers to clients.“It’s been pretty successful. … We’vesaved, I think, six or seven pets so far thisyear,” says Blanchette, who once againshares her home with a furry friend afteradopting a dog herself.

To Jeff Sheppard, the RamonaHumane Society’s executive director, thetrue success of the promotion isn’t meas-ured in numbers. “We’ve had several[adoptions]; we haven’t been bombard-

ed as we wish we would,” he says. “Butyou know what? If we had just one, theprogram is a success.”

When potential adopters seek toredeem the vouchers, they’re still requiredto meet the shelter’s regular adoption cri-teria, says Sheppard. Without a voucher,adoption fees at the shelter, which includevarious services and products, are $97.50for dogs and $65 for cats. The certificateallows for adoption of any species.

Sheppard feels grateful for Blanchette’shelp. “No one knows how bad it is untilthey come into the facility and they seehow many homeless pets there really are,”he says. “And when they take that mat-ter into their own hands or when theyaccept the responsibility that it’s all of ourjobs—not just mine or my kennel or what-ever—it’s all of our jobs to take care ofthese animals, it’s a good feeling.”

Brubaker-Culton’s clients appreciatethe program, too. “I remember one clientrecently, she just moved into her firsthouse, and she had a son who had justlost his dad,” says Blanchette. “And theysort of had limited means, so it was justgreat; she was so appreciative of theopportunity, and [it was] the perfect thingher son needed to help him through thetime that he was going through.”

Blanchette hopes the program will starta nationwide trend among companies ofall sorts. “It would help to alleviate thehuge problem with pet abandonment andoverpopulation,” she says.

You don’t have to be in the animal wel-fare field to make a difference for ani-mals, Sheppard adds. “If everybody puttheir heads together and used theirexpertise to help the less fortunate, whatcould we accomplish?” ❂


How did you get involved in study-ing people who work with animals?I’m a sociologist, so I got involvedin this not so much as an advo-cate [but] more as someone who’sinterested in the culture of labora-tories and science that made itpossible for people to do theseanimal experiments without assum-ing that they are fundamentallyflawed or sadistic. I found that whenI was doing that work, the wholearea of human-animal relationshipsopened up to me as this gold mine,really, of fascinating relationships.And when I was studying theireuthanasia of animals—which theycall “sacrificing”—they kept say-ing, “Well, you should go to shel-ters because they do this eutha-nizing full time.”

Why did you start looking at animalcruelty particularly?I was talking to someone [in the early’90s] about research that I was doingon the relationship of animal abuseto subsequent violence towardhumans. And the person I wasspeaking with suggested that, as asociologist, I might come at the issueof cruelty in a very fresh and newway. The feeling that he had, and Ishared as I thought more about it, isthat the intellectual or academicunderstanding of animal cruelty wasarrested and very limited. To under-stand the nature and significance ofcruelty, at least in America, we hadto get beyond what I thought werevery narrow approaches—andapproaches, by the way, that werefull of what I thought were faultyassumptions. It doesn’t mean wehave to stop the kind of work thatwas already going on … but can’t wesupplement it and provide an alter-native that really goes about askingvery different questions? To stimu-late thinking, I wanted to be more

straightTALK

Since the mid-1980s, Arnold Arlukehas been watching us.

Don’t be creeped out: It’s a goodthing. Arluke is a professor of soci-ology and anthropology at North-eastern University and senior schol-ar at Tufts University’s Center forAnimals and Public Policy. His mostrecent book, Just a Dog: Under-standing Animal Cruelty andOurselves, is a fascinating andprovocative examination of the sub-ject of animal abuse.

Instead of looking at the animals’experience, he looks at those whotry to help them—humane lawenforcement officers and shelterworkers—and observes how theyattempt to process and understandcruelty. Arluke’s subject matter isbroad in scope, covering everythingfrom the experiences of hoardersto the “no kill”/open-admissiondebate. The book even devotessome pages to a discussion of mar-keters who rely on cruelty cases togenerate support for shelters.

Essential reading for those withan interest in the humane move-ment, Just a Dog is likely to createsome controversy in the f ieldbecause of its questions aboutsome of our core beliefs—mostnotably, the presumed link betweenanimal cruelty and violence towardspeople. Animal Sheltering associ-ate editor Carrie Allan spoke toArluke about his research; excerptsof that interview appear here.

The Context of Crueltysociological in looking at cruelty thanthe two literatures that I thought werethe predominant literatures around.

What were those two literatures?What kind of gap did you see?One literature I call the alarmistor advocacy literature, which servesan important function. It’s a liter-ature that’s largely not research-based, and it argues, usually, forever more unsavory and grotesqueways that humans cause sufferingto animals. And by the way, I don’tdoubt that this occurs. And it real-ly is a wake-up call … for readersout there who may not be on thebandwagon to see animal crueltyas a horrible thing and somethingwhich we need to curtail. I oftenwonder whether it’s often preach-ing more to the choir, but that’s OKtoo; that serves a function. It some-times is based on a few studies,but by and large, it’s really to drumup support.

The other literature that’s moreof a research-based one is very psy-chologically driven, and that alsohas an important place. That liter-ature tries to understand the caus-es of animal cruelty among children,and often it does this by looking ator arguing for seriously disturbedindividual psychological flaws thatare thought to be at the root of whya child will seriously harm an ani-mal, and then the effects. Theeffects are [documented in] laterpsychological research, now knownas “the link” studies that havesought to connect animal abuse withsubsequent behaviors. They oftenfocus on either serial killers or wifeabusers. I felt we needed to some-how expand our understanding ofwhat this thing is we call animalabuse, and understand more aboutthe context around it that shapesits meaning.

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Can you talk a little bit about whatyou mean by “context”?As a sociologist, I don’t believe …concepts like “animal cruelty” arebest understood by looking at legalcodes or definitions in the diag-nostic and statistical manual forpsychologists. Those kind of writ-

ings and books are really for pro-fessionals, but they may not tellus a thing about how the animalabuser him or herself understandsit, or how people who deal with ani-mal abuse understand it. I wantedto ground the understanding of ani-mal abuse in everyday life, so thatwas one goal of the book.

Another goal of the book was tonot view animal abuse as invari-ably having long-term destructiveimpact on people. Again, the tra-dition of “the link” literature in psy-chology really shaped that image:that only by the grace of God cansomeone harm an animal and notbecome a really hideous adult. Wehave to allow that that can existand understand when that occurs,but we also have to allow for thepossibility—no matter how unsa-vory that is—that animal abuse can

occur in childhood or adolescenceand have no long-term subsequenteffect that is observable ordetectable in any way, by eitherlooking at criminal records or a psy-chiatric interview. And to do that Ireally think is uncomfortable forthe humane community.

Your questioning of the link betweenanimal abuse and human violenceis going to be pretty controversial.Even [in] the scientific literatureitself, [there’s] not a consensus atall that the link is accurate. Eventhough there appear to be a num-ber of studies, we also really haven’tgone far enough to identify the spe-cific kinds of abuse and conditionsthat are predictive of future violence.That would be the most helpful work,because I don’t think it’s useful toidentify with a red flag every ado-lescent in every public school whoharms an animal. I do think any ado-lescent who does needs attention,but I don’t think that every adoles-cent who does it will be tomorrow’sJeffrey Dahmer. But I would like toidentify those who would.

What I think we need is fewerstudies that just interview prison-


ers and show that a good numberof prisoners harmed animals askids, and try to get beyond that tosee under what circumstances thislink exists. One of the things I notein the book is how many nice, aver-age college students will report hav-ing harmed animals—althoughwhen we talk about this, too, wehave to distinguish someone who[says] they harmed an animalbecause they crushed a butterflyversus someone who shot the neigh-bor’s dog. There [is] an enormousrange of kinds of abuses that occur.But I think that’s again pointing tothe need to refine the kind ofresearch to understand, well, whatis the difference? Is it normal in ourculture to grow up and cause someharm to some animals versus moreserious harm or egregious harm tohigher animals? And what’s thepathway that develops?

Do you think a universal definitionof cruelty is even possible?It’s interesting you ask that ques-tion because when I studiedhumane law enforcement officers,they enforced laws that are oftenreally ambiguous and fuzzy. A lotof them were written 100 years agoand hardly updated. And most ofthem talk mostly about horseabuse, for obvious reasons, givenwhat our societies were like 100years ago. And I would often say tothem, “Wouldn’t you like a wholenew law that was really specific?”And I often got quite the oppositeresponse: that having a very vaguelaw allows humane law enforce-ment officers more play for them-selves to define, in the field, whatconstitutes cruelty.

Another idea you raise in your bookis that exposure or participation incruelty may not always have a neg-ative effect on people, and may occa-sionally have a positive one.First of all, I want to be very clear

straightTALK

“Even though there appear to be a number ofstudies, we also really haven’t gone far enough to

identify the specific kinds of abuse and conditionsthat are predictive of future violence.”


straightTALK

what I mean by “positive” effects. I neveradvocate or support cruelty to occur. [Asa sociologist], I’m looking at situations—in this case cruelty—[that have] some sub-sequent effects for people that for themis regarded as positive, or useful; that mightbe a better term. As I mentioned earlier,when cruelty does occur, even if thereare “positive” uses, there’s no questionthat we need to look at its roots and try toprevent it.

But what you’re saying is that experiencesor encounters with cruelty can be “charac-ter-building,” to put it in lay terms?Each chapter really does look at a posi-tive use or uses of cruelty. The one thatlooks at abusers themselves is the secondchapter on [my interviews with a cross-section of] college students. When theytried to reconstruct their cruelty, many ofthem remembered it as a form of play—play that was, by the way, thrilling and excit-ing for different reasons, but neverthelessa form of play. And when I started think-ing about that and doing more research, Ifound that there are social scientists whotalk about what’s called “dirty play.” Butthey never talk about animal abuse as “dirtyplay”—they talk about things like usingracist epithets or sexual play or gray-zonecrimes that are really not serious. [It’s] thiswhole in-between area of kids doing thingsthat adults find unsavory, but they’re notgoing to imprison the kids over.

And the literature on “dirty play” oftensuggests that there’s more the kids aredoing than just harassing each other, or inthis case, harassing animals. They’rerehearsing things they see adults doingthat they’re not yet allowed to do. For exam-ple, a lot of the thrill kids would recall whenthey harmed animals involved first carry-ing it out so that no one would see it,because they knew that others would notapprove, and then once it was done, mak-ing sure no one would hear about it. Theywould relate it to how they thought theirparents or other authority figures hadsecrets, too. And it was the possession ofknowledge that to them defined what anadult was. I found that it started ticking off,one after the other, that the way they saw

the abuse was really a rehearsal for what they saw adults doing.The most obvious example was hunting: many of them said theyhad uncles or parents who went hunting, but they weren’tallowed to go yet, or they could go but couldn’t shoot. And theyvery much wanted to partake in that adult activity, and animalabuse for them became a surrogate or pseudo form of hunting.

Now, the question is, how positive is this? Well, it’s positive onlyin the sense that one can view this interloping as a way that they’retransitioning from childhood or early adolescence into late ado-lescence or adulthood, and that like any other transition or rite ofpassage, such rites of passage are essential to forming adult iden-tities. Now, should this be the way we do it? No. And should thesechildren have been talked to about this and should it have beenstopped? Yes. So again, to reaffirm, this is not a defense of whatI call “normal” abuse, it’s merely saying that in our society, whenit occurs, it looks like this. And for certain people it may be partof their developing sense of self and they may not go on as adultsto commit any kind of crime, at least not any kind of violentcrime. I found one or two people had some parking tickets andthat was about all I could find. ❂

For more of our interview with Arnold Arluke, see the next issue of Animal Sheltering.


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offLEASH

The Cat Came BackIn early April, a little shop in New York City’s West Village lost its mascot and chief protector. Molly, a young cat who lived in Myersof Keswick and kept the British specialty shop mouse-free, did not show up for her morning duties. What happened after thatmade the papers across the United States and internationally as people tuned in to see what would happen to Molly. Here, withdetails culled from our own interviews and other stories from the New York Times, the Daily News, and the New York Post, we pres-ent some highlights of the rescue saga. —Carrie Allan

Molly disappeared from her usual basket in the

shop on Friday, March 31. She was not seen over

the weekend. On Monday, store employees

could hear her meowing from somewhere.

Word spread in the neighborhood that the

cat was missing. “You have to see it from

where we are,” Elena Salvana, a longtime

employee of Myers of Keswick, told Animal

Sheltering. “This is the West Village and

people just love their animals …

So someone called one of the channels

to say there was a cat trapped and no

one was doing anything, and it all

started from there.”

Nancy Gambert, an animal rescuer and

representative of the Renaissance Project, a

nonprofit spay/neuter group in the city, got word

of the cat’s plight and enlisted Josh Schermer of

Downtown Pets to help. Schermer and others

began spending most every day in the basement

of the shop, trying to figure out where in the

walls the cat might have gotten to.

While a few naysayers had

gathered to mock the rescue, most people

were excited and happy about Molly’s safe

return, says Schermer. “It shouldn’t be such a

surprise that there was international

attention,” he says. “It shows a growing

appreciation for animals.”

The local Fox News crew covered the story,

reporting on what citizens were allowed to

do to save an animal trapped in a National

Landmark building. Suddenly, the little shop

was surrounded by media and onlookersround the clock, reports Schermer. In his

online account of the rescue, he wrote that

he “knew things were getting big whennewspapers from London, India, and Japan

wanted to interview me, along with CNN and the New York Times too.”

Over the course of the next two weeks, would-be

rescuers from New York City’s animal care and

control department, police emergency service

unit, and fire departments—along with local

contractors—donated their time and energy to

locating Molly within the building walls, coping

with media inquiries, keeping the crowd under

control, monitoring demolition efforts for safety,

and trying to assure the owner and the

Landmark Preservation Commission that they

would pay for the repairs to the property.

Crowds gathered to watch the scene. The building

was cordoned off with police tape—not exactly

good for business, reports Salvana. People

turned up with kittens who mewed for Molly to

come out. Someone suggested sending a ferret in

after her. A cat therapist played whale and

seagull sounds. Someone else brought catnip. A

psychic tried to “feel” where Molly was within the

building. Humane traps baited with cat food were

set, and some turned up with fancier French cat

food, suggesting that it might be more of a

temptation. The New York Post oh-so-helpfully

sent a person dressed as a mouse to help lure the

cat out from her nook. Oddly, the giant gyrating

rodent did not persuade Molly to emerge.

News stories about the cat

appeared in papers from France

to Australia to South Africa.

The major break in the rescue came just

in time, Schermer says. After nearly two

weeks in a hot and dusty basement, the

owner was getting annoyed and

everyone was getting discouraged. But a

sound expert named Al Fierstein turned

up on the scene and used special

acoustic equipment to determine Molly’s

location. Rescue crews made a hole in

the wall behind the shop’s main counter.

The building, old and full of nooks and crannies

in the walls and the basement, is very close to

the adjacent building; all that separates them is

an alley too small for a human to slip into. The

local fire department, working on the theory

that Molly had worked her way into that tiny,

trash-filled crevice, sprayed water into the alley,but Molly did not come out.

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At 10:30 p.m. on April 14, Kevin Clifford,

foreman of a nearby construction project

who’d stopped by regularly to help,

reached into the last hole and carefully

pulled Molly out of the wall. She was a

little dehydrated, but otherwise “not very

dirty for a cat that’s been in the wall for

two weeks,” Mike Pastore of New York

City Animal Care and Control told the

New York Times.

10

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