Today the BC SPCA made another puppy mill seizure based on evidence and information provided by Okanagan Animal Welfare Foundation and Animal Advocates Society. This one is the "Puppy Patch" between Westwold and Falkland.

OKAWF and AAS recently supplied the BC SPCA with a list of puppy mills in the Okanagan. OKAWF does the investigating and AAS publishes the investigations on its web site at http://www.animaladvocates.com/puppymill-investigations.htm. Puppy Patch is one of the locations that we informed the SPCA of. This is the third puppy mill that the BC SPCA has raided in response to AAS publicity and OAWF investigation.

Jennifer Dickson is the president of OAWF and can be reached at eight-dogs-later@shaw.ca

AAS knows that the SPCA branch has known about every single puppy mill, sometimes for decades. We have proof that each mill has been reported to an SPCA branch, possibly hundreds of times, as people are so horrified and angry and - until AAS - the SPCA was the only place animal abuse and cruelty could be reported to. And yet Craig Daniell, the new BC SPCA Manager of Cruelty Investigations, has told us that when he began work in November of 2002, not one branch had records of puppy mills. That is the SPCA legacy of decades of doing paid animal control and ignoring unpaid animal welfare. We believe these seizures are proof that Mr Daniell intends to reform the BC SPCA's appalling lack of prevention of cruelty.

We believe that Mr Daniell is sincere about preventing cruelty after at least 50 years of the PCA act being denied and ignored by the BC SPCA and puppy millers plying their cruel trade with impunity.

Next - the SPCA, after decades of allowing their own employees to operate unregulated breeding operations (http://www.animaladvocates.com/spca-breeds.htm - scroll down to read about the Salmon Arm SPCA manager's very large operation), must institute breeding laws to control puppy mills, back yard breeders, and home resellers, and to reduce the numbers of dogs that it kills annually for its pound contracting business.

We very much hope that the SPCA does not kill any of the dogs that it has "rescued" from the Puppy Patch as it has in with other seizures in the past.

Judy Stone
President, Animal Advocates Society of BC

AAS Web Mag: www.animaladvocates.com
AAS Messageboard: http://www.animaladvocates.com/cgi-bin/newsroom.pl

Attachment:

Sent: Friday, June 14, 2002 7:24 AM
Subject: Re: Puppy Patch and others....

Hi AAS,

I just accidentally came across your site. We live in the place across the street from the Puppy Patch, and have certainly had our run-ins with them! At one point one of the cross-breed stud dogs came over, and was in with my horses (at night). When I picked him up, I realized that he was skin and bones (a poodle cross), and had a large piece of fencing wire entangled in his hair. I snuck him away to the SPCA in Vernon, told them who he belonged to, and we all waited for the owners to contact them. Meanwhile, the SPCA had started an abuse file on him. This was in late 2000.