Q. van Dongen's unwittingly insightful remark reminds me again of that day I sat under the dim light of puppy miller Vi Robinson's kitchen table, surrounded by garbage, filth, and caged exotic birds. The crying of dozens of little dogs, penned outside in their own excrement in subzero temperatures, filtered its way through the greasy windows. As I watched the lone house dog, a decrepit little old terrier, hairless from being sprayed with Raid for parasite control, feebly teeter her way across the kitchen floor, Vi Robinson leaned into me and said:

"The SPCA comes out here all the time and they never find anything wrong, so I don't know what people keep complaining about."

Out of the mouths of animal abusers....