Huge WVA puppy mill shut down

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tagalong

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http://www.newsandsentinel.com/page/conten.../id/508572.html

PARKERSBURG - Humane Society officials and volunteers are working around the clock in what officials say could be the largest animal-rescue operation in West Virginia history - the removal of around 1,000 purebred dachshund dogs a Parkersburg breeder surrendered to authorities Saturday.
The dogs appeared to be well-nourished and officials say there were no signs that the dogs had been abused, but the sheer number of dogs at the Whispering Oaks Kennel was more than any human being could possibly care for.

"It's simply unimaginable," said Jordan Crump, Humane Society of the United States public information officer. "No one can take care of a thousand dogs."

Wood County Prosecutor Ginny Conley, as well as other officials, would not give the name of the owner or the location of the kennel. However, the Whispering Oaks Kennel Web site lists the owner as Sharon Roberts, but does not list the kennel's location.

A Wood County 911 dispatcher said the call was dispatched to Whispering Oaks Lane, but an exact location was unavailable. Attempts to contact the owner Saturday were unsuccessful.

The Humane Society of Parkersburg devoted all its resources and the Humane Society of the United States was also mobilized to deal with the dogs, which are being taken to a warehouse near the animal shelter and housed in cages.

Local veterinarian volunteers are checking each dog. Carrie Roe, HSOP board president, said Saturday one dog was found to have a fractured pelvis and was in surgery Saturday evening.

Scotlund Haisley, senior director of emergency services for the HSUS, said it will probably take two days to remove all the dogs from the kennel.

Roe said it will be at least a week before any of the animals can be adopted. First, each of the thousand dogs must be seen by a veterinarian, processed and checked for temperament. But when they are available for adoption, the dogs will likely live a much better life than they would have otherwise, she said.

"They have been in the kennel their entire lives. Some have never been touched, but these dogs are very resilient. Most will make good family pets. They will have a chance to be the type of dogs they couldn't have been before. These are very adoptable dogs - the fact they are all purebred is certainly going to help," she said.

Many of the dogs will be taken to out-of-state adoption centers as officials say a thousand dogs is far too many to be housed and adopted locally.

Conley said the HSOP, the West Virginia Division of Environmental Protection and the Wood County Sheriff's Department have been working together for weeks on an investigation of possible dog-related pollution. She said a search warrant on the kennel was executed by the deputies and the DEP around 8:30 a.m. Saturday. While the owner has not been cited for any animal neglect-related charges, the pollution investigation is ongoing, she said.

Conley said the owner agreed to never operate a dog-breeding business again. According to the Web site, Whispering Oaks, an Internet-based business, had been breeding dachshunds since 1961.

Many of the rescued dogs were dachshunds, but there were other small breeds as well.

"The owner, once confronted, was very cooperative and surrendered all of the dogs," Conley said. "Over the last six months, the owner realized the need for downsizing. We showed up and had the resources to do that. We solved a problem today," she said.

Haisley said the Humane Society needs blankets and towels for the dogs, but most of all monetary donations. He said the rescue operation could easily cost $100,000.

To donate or volunteer to help with the dog rescue, call the Humane Society of Parkersburg at (304) 422-5541
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Apparently these people have been breeding Dachshunds for over 40 years... and then "expanded" into other breeds as well.
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On a positive note.......at least none of them are in dire physical distress........BUT.......ONE THOUSAND DOGS???
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How can ANYONE manage that many???? And how can that many receive at least SOME of loving attention that they need???

My heart is going out to the Humane Society that is dealing with this. Our own local one took in 98 "herding" dogs in a similar situation earlier this summer and it was overwhelming! The main problem is lack of socialization with them. And none of it is the dogs' fault!

I guarantee that in just a week or two you will begin to see some of those little dogs posted on "Pet Finders.com"........ If anyone is looking for a small dog to adopt, check that out FIRST.

(Do I sound like an advertisement? Well........I AM!)
 
I did a search to see if they had a website and they did. It is no longer active and availble but thanks to google I was able to get an old cache results. On their site, they had like 35 puppies listed. This is what was under their FAQ ----

Frequently Asked Questions

Many questions about our kennel are explained within the different sections of this site. For the items that haven't been addressed, we have posted and will continue to update the list of frequent asked questions (FAQ) for your convenience.

Is it better to buy a puppy from a breeder, than a pet shop?

Yes , breeders are much more concerned with the health and happiness of each puppy. They know the background of their puppies and are more experienced with

their total health care. When you buy from a pet shop, the puppy you might be interested in has already been exposed to all the other puppies that have been brought in from all over. This drastically increases the chances that the puppy could be exposed to disease.

Breeders are the specialist, and the way to go.

Our Policy:

Due to the liability risks & insurance purposes, we do not allow the

public to enter our kennels at anytime or reason. Please do not take offense to this, this is just to protect ourselves and our puppies.

We do not allow anyone to visit or handle our puppies prior to them being 6-8 weeks of age.

Can you deliver any puppy that I choose to any state?

We can try. We ship through Delta out of Yeager Airport in Charelston WV.

The puppy is delivered efficiently , safe and sound! There are heat and cold restrictions for winter and summer. If its too hot or too cold the airlines will not ship puppies till the weather permits. This is in the best interest of the puppies. They sometimes won't let us ship to certain states.

Do you vaccinate your puppies?

Yes we most definately do! Healthy happy puppies are our priority. On our first

vaccination we use NEOPAR. This is a parvo only vaccine developed by Dr. Page.

Neopar is as much as 700-6500% more potent than any other parvo vaccines available. The puppies also receive a 2nd and 3rd 5-way at 8 and 10 weeks of age. At which time they are also wormed using Pyrantel.

Do you recommend a daily vitamin routine?

Yes we do! Here at our kennel we use NuVet Plus Vitamins.

They heal and protect your pet-for life!

These vitamins help prolong the life of your loved one.

They protect against :

Allergies Premature Aging

Skin and Coat Problems Diabetes, Liver Problems

Scratching, Itching, Biting Cataracts, Tumors

Hot Spots Digestive Problems

Arthritis and Joint Problems Heart Desease

Not sold in stores! Made fresh when ordered!

Guaranteed- no sugars or fillers.

Money back guaranteed

Very affordable ( In most cases under $3.70/week)

Only available through your pet professionals. You must provide a Code to

order! (supplied by the seller).

What forms of payment do you accept?

We accept Visa, Mastercard, Debit Card , U.S Postal Money Orders & Cash!

You may also view more of our puppies for sale on "www.puppyfind.com"
 
People like this just sicken me! So they seemed well taken care of, hmmm lets see, stick a dog in a kennel for life, hardly have the time of day to say hello to it. Have 999 other dogs around it going potty, that place must have smelled heavenly! Yeah thats a life I'd want for my dog!

Love the excuse they give for not letting anyone see their kennels.

If they were so concerned about their happiness why did they have 1000 dogs? How many times a day did they play with the dogs?

And the Nu-Vet vitamins thats a gimmick, you will find alot of puppy millers use those, they get a check back everytime one of their buyers buys them. So more money in their pocket.

Lets stick these people in a cage for years, make it smell like an outhouse and lets see how happy they are.

Thank God these dogs have been rescued and will actually be in loving homes soon!
 
They have shut down a couple puppy mills here in Northern Georgia in the last couple of months. None having near the number of dogs as this one.

Atlanta Humane Society went to one and got 200 small dogs and brought them to Atlanta for adoption. The people were lined up to adopt them. They were all adopted withing four days. It was sad because many of these dogs will end up back up for sale probably on Craigslist. Most of these dogs are not housetrained and have never been outside of a cage. It takes a special home with a lot of time to get these dogs ready to rehome. The Atlanta Humane Society did not take the time to rehabilitate these dogs before they sold them. They took them from a bad situation to most likely another bad situation.
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Not approving of this many dogs (that is just crazy) but I will speak on behalf of WHY people are not allowed in the kennels, because I do know RESPONSIBLE breeders with just a few dogs....

Say you have pups that are $1000 a piece or more... folks come to look at your puppies but have already been to three other homes that day to look. There is NO guarantee that the places they have been do not have parvo or other problems or have things that can be brought into your kennel because they have handled how many puppies today and have not washed their hands? Their shoes have been in how many yards or homes where you have no idea if there has been a sick dog or.......

These breeders keep a tray of bleach outside the kennel doors so when they go in and out they can bleach their shoes and they have still had trouble, though ALL their dogs are vaccinated and looked after by their vets and they spare no expense in their dog care or feed.

So there are folks who have valid reason why they do not let visitors in where the kennel actually is....

What saddens me about these dogs is the fact that due to the economy the pounds are putting to sleep more animals than ever. People are abandoning their pets on their foreclosure homes here and the rescues cannot take any more dogs and some are thinking they may have to start euthanizing as well. Everyone is on overload, so WHO is going to take all these dogs? How sad...

At least they say they were in good condition and being fed... what will happen when they are not adopted? I sure feel sorry for the dogs and can't believe that a person could allow the numbers to get this out of control! Ok, if your pups are not selling STOP BREEDING for crying out loud! Yikes!!
 
Do you really think that these people cared about those dogs?? They had a 1000!

Some people do not let people in their kennels for those reasons you stated but I do not believe for one minute that is what these people were worried about.

Dont you think if you walked in a kennel and saw that many dogs that you wouldnt head for the nearest sheriffs office? Would you really buy a dog from those people? I think the reason behind not letting people in their kennel is a little bit different here.

These people were not breeding to improve the breed standard they were breeding for money.
 
Do you really think that these people cared about those dogs?? They had a 1000! These people were not breeding to improve the breed standard they were breeding for money.
I agree with Denise's post. This is just greed! In Tucson this past summer a puppy mill was closed down with 800 dogs and 200 birds. I do not believe for one minute that these people were not into it for the money. They were selling sick dogs and this is the only reason they were caught. A person who bought a puppy took it to a Vet and it died from parvo and other ills within a day or so. Thank gosh they reported these people! They have been charged and hopefully will spend some time in prison!
 
H and I saw a news story on the local news this morning about the dogs. I hope they all make it to loving homes. They just looked so precious. We have four shih-tzu's (they are getting older now) and two big dogs. They are like our children sincerely. I just can't stand that there were so many and that they were not treated the way dogs should be treated.
 

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