Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Pennsylvania DOA Shuts Down Despicable Puppy Mill
The department of Agriculture has finally shut down a puppy mill called Almost Heaven. Well it sure wasn’t any type of haven for these dogs that were living in little wired cages that were filthy and sick.
The state’s special deputy secretary for dog law enforcement Jessie Smith said: Mr. Eckhart will never again operate a dog kennel in Pennsylvania, and we will see that the dogs removed from the kennel today are cared for before they are offered for adoption.
The Pennsylvania state director of HSUS Sarah Speed said: These animals were subjected to years of constant confinement and denied loving human care and socialization. The Humane Society of the United States is grateful to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture for enforcing the commonwealth's Dog Law and coming to the aid of man's best friend.
So finally one of these despicable puppy mills gets shut down, let hope it doesn’t stop here. If more states would start looking at the way some of these places are ran we would be reading more great stories like this one.
Read the article by Walter Perez here.
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3 comments:
Thank you for your work in exposing the truth about puppy mills. I’ve had my eyes open for about two years now, since we began fostering Boston Terriers, and I can’t believe that puppy mills are so prolific in a country like the United States. Clearly we still have a long way to go.
I’m trying to do my part to raise awareness about puppy mills and to support dog rescue groups by publishing breed-specific books full of stories about adopted dogs. My hope is that the books will give proud owners of adopted dogs a chance to showcase them, raise awareness about dog adoption and breed characteristics and generate funding for dog rescue through the donation of a portion of each sale. The first book, “Lost Souls: FOUND! Inspirational Stories of Adopted Boston Terriers” is available for pre-sale at http://happytailsbooks.com and on Amazon.com.
The next three books will be about Golden Retrievers, Labs and Chihuahuas. We are currently collecting stories for all of our books and would love to hear from anyone who has a great story about their adopted dog!
Thank you,
Kyla
http://happytailsbooks.com
While the closing of this kennel a.ka. is great news for the dogs that have had to live their lives in filthy and horrific conditions, the sad truth is that someone like Derbe "Skip" Eckhart will continue to breed dogs.
He has been doing this for decades and this is the business he knows. And it is a lucrative one at that. He will most likely start kennels in other states or continue here illegally.
He has ignored the law for years. Nothing has changed except this hellhole has finally closed its doors. However he was still allowed to keep 25 dogs. He should not have been allowed to keep any.
This is not the end of the road for Eckhart. Those of us who know about puppymills know this sad reality all too well.
Kyla, Thanks for your work in spreading the awareness.
Tina, I was unaware that the owner was allowed to keep that many dogs let alone even one dog. I still don't know how anybody who treated his dogs like that would ever be allowed to have another dog. I hope the locals keep an eye on this guy.
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