Humane Society fights for dogs Long after the February 2011 rescue of 230 dogs that were part of a commercial breeding business, the court drama continued. It defined much of our year as we hoped for justice in 2012. Bradley International pled no contest to 153 counts of animal cruelty and was ordered to pay fines. The corporation claimed they had no assets and had gone out of business. Yet a January 2012 news report found that some of the same company’s officers had started a new breeding operation on the Big Island. Another company officer, who oversaw daily care of the dogs, had fled Hawaii in 2011 before he could be charged. In June 2012, he was arrested in Las Vegas, and returned to Hawaii to face 153 misdemeanor counts of seconddegree animal cruelty. The case is pending trial at the time of this publication.
Puppy mills in paradise Dogs are living beings that rely completely on people to meet their many needs. They are not a product or commodity and should not be indiscriminately or irresponsibly mass produced. We are not against puppy sales and responsible breeders. Caring breeders would never sell through a pet shop as they want to create a direct relationship with buyers and invite inspections of housing and care of the dogs they breed. Puppy mills are large-scale breeding operations that sell through stores and swap meets. However, our research shows that the majority of sales has migrated to the internet out of plain view – puppies are peddled through venues such as e-Bay and Craigslist. A recent survey found that puppy sales are incredibly lucrative. During the first six months of 2012, nearly 2,500 puppies were available for sale, totaling $2.3 million. Sellers charge a lot of money for puppies – as high as $3,500 for a purebred. Yet the highest price is the cost of suffering endured by the puppy’s parents, who may be overbred and imprisoned in poor living conditions.
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