More than 300 dogs will be auctioned off in rural Ohio on Saturday, as puppy mill opponents schedule a rally to call attention to the animals’ plight.
Photo: Salsa and Gordita, 10-year-old Chihuahua sisters rescued from a puppy mill by the Companion Animal Protection Society. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Animal activists in the Midwest are gathering early Saturday morning, August 26, to protest what they say is one of the largest dog auctions in the United States, where puppy mill operators will sell off both puppies and adult breeding stock.
More than 300 dogs will be presented for sale at the
Buckeye Dog Auction at the Amish Flea Market in Millersburg, Ohio. Co-founded by large-scale breeder Ervin Raber, the Buckeye Dog Auction has become big business since it began in 2003, with Raber aiming at selling several hundred dogs from numerous breeders at each of 10 auctions planned throughout the year.
“It is a hideous scene, reminiscent of slave days. The dogs are so frightened, they have never been outside of their cages before,” says Mary O’Connor-Shaver, a local animal activist and leader with Columbus Top Dogs, a group that sells pet products and donates the profits to the pet rescue community.
“Most, if not all, of the breeders from Holmes and Tuscawarus counties who participate in this event are raising large number of puppies for profit in mills – mass dog breeding establishments with horrendous living conditions characterized by overcrowding, filth, and lack of food, water, and little or no veterinary care,” O’Connor-Shaver says.
Breeder dogs at puppy mills are often crammed into cages for years at a time, without any socialization or exercise. They are bred as frequently as possible, often every six months, until they are no longer useful as breeding stock and are disposed of.
Holmes and Tuscawarus counties are both in Ohio Amish country, and have some of the largest concentrations of puppy mills found anywhere in the United States. According to the
Columbus Dog Connection, Holmes County, with a human population of 39,000, issues 470 kennel licenses per year. In contrast, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, a well-known puppy mill capital, issued only 300 kennel licenses, and has a human population of 470,000.
“It is a dirty little secret of the Amish community,” O’Connor-Shaver says.
The auction attracts puppy mill operators and puppy brokers from around the country, ranging from small backyard breeders to large companies such as the Hunte Corporation, a Missouri-based puppy broker that is among the largest in the United States. Participants travel from many surrounding states, including some, such as Pennsylvania, where such dog auctions are illegal.
The dogs put up for auction range from adult breeding stock to newborn puppies, with dozens of breeds featured, but mostly small and “fashionable” breeds such as terriers, Pomeranians, pugs, poodles, Shi Tzus and Maltese. (Complete list is available at www.xanga.com/buckeyedogauction.) Some dogs sold at the auction will fetch thousands of dollars, others just a couple hundred. Many will die while being transported to puppy brokers or pet stores around the country. Still others, not sold successfully, may be shot by their owners following the auction, according to O’Connor-Shaver.
She says she hopes the protest against the auction will draw between 75 and 125 people, from cities around Ohio and some surrounding states. The message of the protest will be that people should never, ever, buy dogs from pet stores or the Internet, because those sales keep the puppy mill business going.
Instead, people should adopt pets from local rescues and shelters, where the pet overpopulation crisis is being fed by the dogs from the puppy mills.
O’Connor-Shaver encourages people to go to the auction just to see for themselves the horror of the puppy business.
“We encourage people to come if they have never been to this type of event, to truly understand what is causing overcrowding in animal shelters, to see where that puppy in the store window came from,” she says.
She says there is growing outrage in the area at the puppy business, and that local activists are hoping to capitalize upon that to get the same kind attention paid to Ohio puppy mills that is now being paid to the puppy mills in Pennsylvania.
Earlier this year, Ohio state legislators proposed a bill that would impose greater restrictions on puppy mills that are sadly underregulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The proposed law would require every kennel that produces six or more litters per year to meet minimal standards of care. See story
here. O’Connor-Shaver says these measures are a start, but just a start.
“I hope it is a sign that our state is going to become more progressive in regulating what I believe is a form of animal cruelty,” she says. “It is a move in the right direction. I am hoping that it will not only strengthen laws, but that there will be some enforcement. It is so difficult to get the big millers, those in the Amish community, prosecuted.”
A major dilemma faced by rescuers who will be attending Saturday’s auction is whether or not to try to bid on some of the dogs. On one hand, they know that most of the dogs will be sold back into the puppy mill industry and face a horrific fate. On the other hand, by purchasing dogs, they know that they are helping to keep the mills economically viable.
Frantic email messages are spreading throughout the Internet begging for rescuers to step in with money to help rescue the dogs at the auction. Coordinated efforts are being organized for people to channel their money and bids through a single person, so rescuers are not bidding against one another.
On the other hand, some rescues will absolutely refuse to pay any money for an auctioned dog, and will only accept those that were unsaleable and are surrendered for free by their owners. Some find middle ground, and are willing to pay a few dollars for a dog, but not more.
“It is an area of difficulty to the rescue community,” admits O’Connor-Shaver. “But we need to realize that they view these dogs as a commodity. They are in it for profit, and they look at them like livestock, and they will continue to breed them as long as people are buying them.”
Read more about the Amish puppy mill industry from the
Cleveland Plain Dealer and the
New Philadelphia Times-Reporter. See undercover footage of the Ohio puppy mills from
The Companion Animal Protection Society and learn more about the campaign to shut down Ohio puppy mills from
The Columbus Dog Connection. If you are able to attend the protest Saturday against the Buckeye Dog Auction, please do. The protest will begin at 8 a.m. when the dogs are on display, and continue until noon. The auction begins at 10 a.m. The auction is at the Amish Flea Market, Walnut Creek (3149 State Route 39, Millersburg, OH 44654). Located ¼ mile west of Walnut Creek, Ohio, on S.R. 39.