SD Animal Defense Team: December 2010

December 24, 2010

San Diego Donations Going to Black Hat

Ferdinand's Familia Animal Rescue and the San Diego Animal Defense Team are gathering supplies for the Black Hat Humane Society in eastern Arizona, the amazing animal rescue group on the Navajo Reservation. Volunteers plan to deliver a van of supplies, departing San Diego on Friday, January 14. It has been a brutal winter. Please help if you can.

We are inspired by the documentary Rez Dogs, which is available above for your viewing. It is a powerful story of what happens to animals on the vast reservation and how some people are stepping up to save them.

Please watch it and consider donating the following:

Canned dog food
Unopened (new) bags of kibble dog food
All size bedding for dogs (new)

Drop off points:
Downtown San Diego: San Diego Pet Supply, 1490 Island, (619) 263-2211
Beach Areas: Send a message to keafs2@yahoo.com for drop off location
East County: Call (619) 922-2926 for drop off location

We have been in touch with Black Hat and look forward to being able to give them some assistance.

All our relations,
ADT

December 16, 2010

It's True -- Pet Works is CLOSED

Presenting Pet Works with a HSUS request to cease selling puppies
on behalf of the Animal Defense Team.

The Pet Works store in Grossmont Shopping Center has now CLOSED! The Animal Defense Team was instrumental in the protests at Pet Works, first as the behind-the-scenes organizers of all protests held there from April 2009 to October 2009, then continuing weekly protests on Sundays. We were there for 48 weeks. On Black Friday, 2009, (the day after Thanksgiving, the busiest shopping day of the year) the Animal Defense Team staged a street theater protest "The Dead Dog Spectacle" at Pet Works. We processed through the entire length of the shopping center and then staged a dog die-in in front of the store with caged participants wearing dog masks.
Three cheers to all of our great activists who have continued with us as we have taken the fight against puppy stores from Pet Works in La Mesa to California Pets in Carlsbad to Pups and Pets in Santee to Puparazzi in Mission Valley. Stay tuned!

BREAKING NEWS!

Austin Texas City Council Bans Retail Pet Sales

Published : Thursday, 16 Dec 2010, 12:29 PM CST

Chris Sadeghi

AUSTIN (KXAN) - The Austin City Council unanimously approved an ordinance that would ban the retail sale of puppies and kittens while placing new requirements on local breeders.

Anyone selling a puppy or kitten will have to have the proper registration documents and also spay or neuter the animal before selling. Breeders can sell dog and cats that are not spayed or neutered only if they pay a $50 fee per animal.

The Austin Animal Advisory Commission asked for the ordinance in hopes of helping the City reach its goal of having a no-kill animal shelter.

“It is a good ordinance and will further the mission of no-kill,” said David Lundstedt, with the commission. “I am glad it passed.”

December 07, 2010

BLACK FRIDAY PROTEST HITS PUPARAZZI!

The largest group of stop puppy mill protesters in the history of San Diego gathered on Black Friday, November 26, 2010, to protest Puparazzi puppy store in the Mission Valley Westfield Malls Shopping Center.

Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) is the biggest shopping day of the year. It is also the kick-off for "puppy season," when puppy stores anticipate they will sell 50% of their annual inventory of pups. On Black Friday 2009, the SD Animal Defense Team staged a Dead Dog Spectacle -- a street theater production with dog masks and animal cages concluding with a die-in -- at Pet Works puppy store in Grossmont Center Shopping Mall.

This year, led by the Animal Defense Team, activists from the Animal Protection and Rescue League, the Olympian High School Animal C.A.R.E. Club, the Sweetwater High School Animal C.A.R.E. Club and the community-at-large from all over Southern California protested in front of the mall on Mission Center Rd.

They then formed a slow procession and paraded through the Mission Valley Mall to the Puparazzi store. Wearing bright yellow BAN PUPPY STORES badges and carrying banners and large signs, they lined the outside of the store windows and surrounded the store itself in the very heart of the mall, leaving only the legal space to allow door access.

The USDA disclosed in October that San Diego consumers purchased 763 puppies just from Missouri puppy mills in 2009. Of those, 116 were documented as being delivered to the Puparazzi store.

We are also delighted to notify you that the Pet Works store in Grossmont Shopping Center has announced it is closing. The Animal Defense Team has been instrumental in the protests at Pet Works, first as the behind-the-scenes organizers of all protests held
there from April 2009 to October 2009, then continuing weekly protests on Sundays for a total of 48 weekly protests at the Pet Works store. At that point, we chose to diversify our protests to include other puppy stores in San Diego County.

Three cheers to all of our great activists who have continued with us as we have taken the fight against puppy stores from Pet Works in La Mesa to California Pets in Carlsbad to Pups and Pets in Santee to Puparazzi in Mission Valley. Stay tuned!

And now for the best part -- the photos! Enjoy!

Wall of Shame: These San Diego Stores Sell Puppies

The Animal Defense Team has targeted the stores listed in red with protests.

San Diego Puppy

5825 Mission Gorge Rd.

David Salinas is selling puppy mill puppies in this storefront and online.
His Horton Plaza kiosk was cancelled the day before our big protest there. Surprise! We are continuing to monitor Horton Plaza to be sure no other puppy stores open there. We have been protesting and doing educational outreach at this store since May, 2012. Please join us at our events.

Puppy Star's CLOSED MARCH 2012!!!

6167 Balboa Ave.

Clairemont

+ Naedeen's Puppies -- owned by Puppy Star's CLOSED MARCH 2012!!!

1021 S. Coast Highway

Oceanside

+ Pet Place -- owned by Puppy Star's CLOSED 2012!!!

6512 El Cajon Blvd.

San Diego

Lemon Grove Pets

7034 Broadway

Lemon Grove, CA 91945

619-460-1965

My Puppy Closed! This store has shut down. If you hear of it reopening in a different location, please let us know. 7770 Vickers St. Ste. 101, San Diego 92111

California Pets at North County Fair, Escondido

California Pets 2525 El Camino Real, Carlsbad (Plaza Camino Real)

Pet Works CLOSED DECEMBER 2010! Grossmont Center Shopping Mall, La Mesa

Fiesta Pet Shop 1145 Highland Ave., National City

Noy's Pet Shop 2550 Imperial Ave.

Pet Market 1536 Sweetwater Rd., National City

Puparazzi -- CLOSED SEPTEMBER, 2011!!! Woo Hoo! Mission Valley Shopping Center

Pups & Pets 50 Town Center Parkway Santee, CA

Please help us keep up-to-date on current stores selling puppies on San Diego County! Thanks

From Sourcewatch.com: USDA

USDA certified puppy mills There are only about a hundred USDA inspectors to monitor 10,000 facilities across the country, ranging from research labs to zoos. Furthermore, "standards" are abysmal. Federal guidelines allow a medium sized terrier to be kept in a cage the size of a clothes drier for its entire life. The federal Animal Welfare Act is hardly the gold standard for compassion. For example, the act does not say you cannot have 300 dogs confined to cages for their entire lives; never to be taken for a walk or receive any personal attention, let alone be a part of a family. A breeder passes USDA muster as long as the dog has food, water and enough space to turn around. USDA standards are very minimal. Adhering to them does not prove that a breeder is not a puppy mill. Even more so, since even these standards are often not enforced. Many licensed breeders for large chains like Petland, have significant violations. [12]

Prisoners of Greed Compassionate Vet Pledge

We are researching which San Diego County veterinarians partner with local puppy stores and will be posting them to this website soon. We will also present provide those vets with puppy mill information, ask them to reconsider their alignment with pet stores selling puppies, and give them the opportunity to sign the Compassionate Vet Pledge.

Compassionate Vet Pledge
Most dogs in puppy mills live their entire lives in wire bottom cages, they are bred when they are six months old, bred every time they come into season, never allowed out of the cage to exercise, not provided quality food or medical care, left outside in the winter and summer without heat or air-conditioning and killed when they do not produce. Certainly veterinarians who are dedicated to the care of animals would object to these practices.

The Federal Animal Welfare Act requires that a veterinarian prepare a vet plan. Without a plan, the kennel can not obtain a license from the United States Department of Agriculture. If every vet in this country, stood for compassion and refused to be the vet of record for a commercial kennel or a pet store that sells dogs/puppies, no commercial kennels could operate.

Download the USDA Policy on Vet Requirements

We are asking all vets to sign the Pledge of Compassion. Every vet who signs the Pledge will receive a framed Certificate of Compassion to hang in their office. The vets will also be featured on this website and recommended as Compassionate Vets. Clients can then determine whether their vet is a Compassionate Vet who will stand up against the misery created in commercial kennels.

Print the pledge and take it to your vet. Have them sign it. Send us a copy and also send it to the Coalition Against Misery Box 343 Pocopson, PA 19366. They will send them the framed certificate and some Prisoners of Greed brochures to display in their office.

Will your vet stand up for the dogs?

Download the Pledge

What is a Puppy Mill?

The term is used by Humane Societies, the ASPCA and the community to indicate USDA kennels that commercially raise wholesale dogs with profit instead of the welfare of the animals as their primary objective. The dogs are farmed as a cash crop.

Animal Planet says it's now a one billion dollar industry with brokers, breeders and pet stores getting rich off of the unbelievable suffering of the dogs in the breeding mills. Under the USDA standard of care, the breeding dogs -- the mothers of the puppies -- NEVER get out of their cages, are housed in wire crates, often stacked so that the dogs on the bottom tier live in terrible stench and filth with no human contact, and receive only enough food and water to be kept alive. YES THIS IS LEGAL, BUT THAT DOESN'T MAKE IT HUMANE.

The HSUS: "The kennel conditions in which puppies are bred and raised are deliberately kept from consumers."

Missouri Puppy Mill Bust/Support Prop B!

71 Dogs Removed from Missouri Puppy Mill; Help Support Prop. B!

On September 21, the ASPCA Field Investigations and Response Team in conjunction with the Humane Society of Missouri (HSMO) removed 71 dogs from an overrun puppy mill in Camden County, MO. The dogs—who include Dachshunds, Maltese, Shih Tzus, Lhasa Apsos, Huskies and Boxers—were transferred to the Humane Society of Southwest Missouri in Springfield and HSMO in St. Louis, where they received medical treatment and will be cared for until they’re ready for adoption.
“This case was unique in that the dogs were voluntarily relinquished by the kennel owner who could no longer afford to feed them,” explains Tim Rickey, ASPCA Senior Director of Field Investigations and Response. Last week the mill owner contacted a local rescue group, Half-way Home Pet Rescue in Cedar County, for help, and Half-way Home then reached out to the ASPCA.
“When breeders are no longer able to care for their animals, the problem lands squarely on the shoulders of local shelters,” says Half-way Home’s Latisha Duffy, who works closely with breeders in Missouri to find homes for retired breeding dogs.
Known as the “Puppy Mill Capital of America,” Missouri is home to more than 3,000 commercial dog breeding facilities and supplies more than 40 percent of all dogs sold in pet stores nationwide. “We see some of the worst conditions in Missouri puppy mills,” explains Rickey. “The dogs, often very ill, are forced to live in overcrowded, filthy conditions.”
In an effort to end the many cruelties associated with puppy mills, the ASPCA, a founding member of Missourians for the Protection of Dogs/YES! on Prop. B, is supporting Proposition B, also known as the Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act. This landmark measure, which will appear on the state’s November ballot, promotes the humane treatment of dogs in Missouri’s large-scale commercial breeding kennels. If passed, Prop B would limit the number of breeding dogs to 50 per facility, and would require large-scale breeders to sufficient food, water and space for the animals under their care.
To learn how to extend your support for Proposition B, please visit our Puppy Mill section on ASPCA.org.

The Truth About Horse Racing

Last year's shameful death list of horses who died racing at Del Mar:

Mr. Napper Tandy
Pocosin's Game Boy
I Want My Money
Mi Rey
Sovine
Peanut Ridge
Maggie and Hopie
Insider
Mad for Plaid
Pauper's Prize
Zetta's Corridor
Endless Moon
Madame Kiawah

Last year (2009) 230 horses died at California race tracks, including the 13 at Del Mar. The evidence is clear: the industry is breeding speed over soundness. Horse's bones, tendons and ligaments cannot hold up to the extreme punishment of racing and horses are paying for it with their lives.

The Animal Defense Team doesn't think this qualifies as either "sport" or entertainment. Do you?

Horses are being trained and raced as two-year-olds, before they are fully mature. Drugs mask problems like pain and bleeding into the lungs, pushing them beyond their physical limits. Lasix, phenylbutazme and corticosteroids are legally used across the country. Drugs keep horses on the racetrack even when they shouldn't be racing.

Losers or injured horses are quickly discarded and sent to the slaughterhouses in Mexico and Canada. Since 1980, the Equine Protection Network states more than 4 million horses have been barbarically slaughtered. The Humane Society of the US estimates at least 11,000 a year.

Racehorses are the victims of an industry based on greed, drugging, deception and death.
Del Mar. CRUEL AS EVER.

PET STORE DOUBLESPEAK

They say: "Our puppies come from breeders, not puppy mills." The word "breeder" isn't an exclusive term. Anyone who produces puppies is technically a breeder. A responsible breeder would never sell her puppies to a pet store.
They say: "All our puppies come from USDA facilities, so we know they are not from puppy mills." Being USDA licensed doesn't mean that the business is not a puppy mill. There are hundreds of USDA-licensed puppy mills in operation that have long lists of violations and problems. A USDA license is required for anyone who is a commercial breeder producing dogs for wholesale.
They say: "We only deal with breeders we know." The store's definition of "knowing" a breeder often just means that they have been receiving shipments of puppies from the same place repeatedly, not that anyone from the store has ever visited the breeder's facility or inspected their records.
They say: "Our puppies come with a health certificate from a licensed veterinarian." A health certificate only means that the puppy has had a brief "wellness" exam by a vet. This exam doesn't include testing for genetic disorders, or testing for diseases such as Giardia and Brucellosis, both of which are contagious to humans and are frequently seen in puppy mill pups.

Congratulations! These Stores Have Signed A Puppy Friendly Pet Store Pledge

Pet Stop, 7490 La Jolla Blvd., La Jolla
Noah's Natural Pet Market,4431CassSt.,PB
San Diego Pet Supply, 1490 Island Ave., SD