INDIANA PET STORES AND PUPPY MILLS

Note: The following is an account of a long and frustrating campaign to bring awareness to conditions inside Indiana Amish puppy mills.  Some images are graphic, and therefore we have opted to provide hyperlinks within the text of the story.  If you choose to click on those links to view videos, images, or documents, the link will open in a new page and you can simply close the new page to return to this story.

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Several years ago, before PetShopPuppies was even an organization, Kim Townsend was contacted by someone who had been inside an Indiana Amish puppy mill.  Throughout the years, Kim had encountered many people who were unaware that puppy mills were legal and licensed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and she felt this person was likely just an uninformed citizen that she would try to educate about the commercial dog industry.

The friendship that developed between Kim and Lisa* has lasted for five years, both learning from each other and sadly realizing how cruelty and abuse is tolerated in the state of Indiana, and even seemingly encouraged by local, state, and federal officials, as well as those within the industry that stood to profit from that cruelty.

It all began with a dog auction in November 2003, reported to have been held by an Amish dog farmer named John Graber.  The Washington Times-Herald reported on the troubles with registering dogs, as well as noting that County Deputies were escorting people off the property for taking pictures.  The American Kennel Club (AKC) was reported to have withheld papers on all dogs and puppies at the auction, and shortly after, both John Graber and auctioneer Mark Graber were suspended for ten years each by the AKC and fined $2,000 for refusing an AKC inspection.

There was much outrage, both before and after the auction.  A formal complaint was filed with USDA (who was present at the auction), but that complaint was ignored...even disputed, and Mark Graber, the auctioneer, was only given a written violation for keeping dogs in pull-out drawers too small to allow the dogs to move about. (another view)

For Lisa, enough was not being done.  She began a courageous and difficult journey into the underbelly of the Amish puppy mill industry -- a journey that thus far has failed to produce any justice for the mangled Shih Tzu (additional photos 1 2 3 4) that inspired her in the years that would follow, or the dogs still in the possession of John Graber and other Amish dog farmers in and around Daviess County Indiana.  These videos show just some of the incredible courage Lisa displayed in exposing the puppy mill problem in Indiana, Click Here to see John Graber, Indiana Amish Puppy Mill and Uncle Bills Pet Stores and Safari Pets.

With the help of several organizations, Lisa and Kim exhausted all legal avenues to get the illegal activity in Indiana stopped.  Kim Townsend was already researching puppies sold at Uncle Bills Pet Stores and Safari Pets, and saw a disturbing pattern of unlicensed and seemingly illegal breeders from Daviess County that were supplying the stores.  Lisa confirmed this with her own investigations.  The easiest path seemed to file complaints with the USDA, since they were charged with enforcing the federal Animal Welfare Act that required most breeders selling to pet stores to hold a USDA license.  The first step was to request documents from the USDA through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in order to determine whether or not USDA was aware of the problems.  USDA's response indicated they were aware that Uncle Bills was buying from unlicensed sources. Safari pets, though previously licensed by USDA, no longer held a license and USDA did not provide any information on Safari Pets when our request was filled.

According to the most recently released list of those licensed to breed and/or broker puppies in the U.S., Uncle Bills and Safari Pets has their choice of over 5,000 entities, with over 100 of those located in Indiana. Why would they repeatedly buy from illegal and unlicensed Amish sources?  The USDA that regulates the puppy mill industry in America has "minimum standards" set for the care of the animals.  These standards are so low and abysmal that virtually every pet shop customer would find them to be nothing short of cruel and inhumane.  Our videos better explain the USDA standards and take you inside a "Blue Ribbon Kennel" or what you could expect in the "best of the best" USDA kennel.

An estimated 400,000 puppies a year are sold in American pet stores, and an Uncle Bill's spokesman claims their chain of stores sells 2500 puppies a year.  While PetShopPuppies does encounter unlicensed breeders from pet stores throughout the country, it is seldom evident that the breeders do not fall under USDA's exemption for "hobby breeders" that have three or fewer breeding females.  Breeders that supply Uncle Bills and Safari Pets have repeatedly been documented to have more than three breeding females dogs, and therefore are not exempt from USDA licensing.

Once our FOIA request for records on Uncle Bills was filled, we confirmed what we already suspected -- that USDA was aware of the problem of illegal breeders in Indiana and were seemingly doing nothing about it.  To ignore a problem was one thing we had come to expect from USDA, but to seemingly aid and abet these violators of a Federal law was quite another!  We'll get to that shortly.

Next, The Animal Legal Defense Fund, through staff attorneys, presented all evidence against John Graber to the local Prosecutor. The Prosecutor declined to bring criminal charges because he did not think a jury in Daviess County would convict John Graber of animal cruelty.

Shortly after the video was submitted to the Prosecutor, USDA published the usual list of licensed breeders in the U.S.  and one significant change was noted on the lists of over 5,000 breeders and brokers -- nearly all of the Daviess County licensed Amish dog breeders' addresses were replaced with one common P.O. box in Bloomfield, IN, a town in a different county, and over 16 miles from where most of the Amish dog breeders lived.  In addition, the paperwork that PetShopPuppies was receiving on puppies bred by the unlicensed Amish farmers was now indicating the same P.O. Box.  Remember that the Amish do not drive cars -- were all of these people now driving their buggies over thirty miles a day to check their mail?  To Kim and Lisa, the message was clear -- the Amish did not appreciate our intrusion, and USDA was willing to help them hide their physical addresses from prying eyes!

In a totally unrelated chain of events, someone who had responded to an advertisement placed by John Graber filed a complaint against him with the Daviess County Sheriff's Office. Through a public records request, a copy was obtained of the original complaint and follow up report, as well as copies of photos taken by the detective. According to the report, John Graber initially falsely stated that the dogs were owned by his son. Additionally, he refused to let officers enter the facility. 

Eleven days after the initial complaint was filed, according to the report, John Graber allowed a detective from the Sheriff's Department and a local veterinarian access to at least some portion of his facility. Since this did not involve a search warrant and since eleven days had passed, it is unknown how much of the facility he permitted them to view, if he made improvements to his facility and/or removed any of his dogs. Based on the report by Detective Dougherty and the veterinarian, the Washington Times-Herald reported that the charges were unfounded and that Graber's kennel got a "clean bill of health."
 

How could this conclusion have been drawn? Considering the resistance already encountered related to this issue, it was suspected the Sheriff's Department was simply part of the "good ol' boy network" that was protecting John Graber. This suspicion was further supported when a comparison was made between detective's photos taken in 2007 and Lisa's photos taken in 2004. The conditions appeared nearly identical. We have no doubt the same conditions still exist today. Even though monthly inspections were agreed upon between the detective and John Graber, an attorney with The Animal Legal Defense Fund confirmed with Detective Dougherty in January 2008 that no subsequent inspections had been done of John Graber's facility.
 

Setback after setback, Kim and Lisa still refused to give up.  If legal methods don't work, there's always the media.  By now, PetShopPuppies was no longer Kim's personal efforts to educate the public about puppy mills; she formed a 501(c)(3) charity and PetShopPuppies.org was born.  When we began working with WTHR in Indianapolis we hoped for a resolution.  While the coverage did help to bring public awareness to the problem, and they did an excellent job of explaining "the puppy pipeline," (See WTHR coverage on our video player) it seems that interest faded quickly.  We would not stop there.

Knowing the only reason suffering would continue at John Graber's farm and the farms of other Amish breeders was that uninformed people in the Indianapolis area were continuing to patronize Uncle Bills and Safari Pets, the major outlet for the Indiana Amish dog breeders, we began protests in front of Uncle Bills and Safari Pets, with a tremendous outpouring of support from the public.  We have started a mailing list for those interested in the progress of our fight, as well as upcoming protests.  In addition, we are very excited to report that we have a billboard in Indianapolis!

We won't stop!  We will never give up until John Graber is closed down; USDA begins a full investigation into the unlicensed dog breeders in Indiana that are supplying Uncle Bills and Safari Pets; USDA begins the administrative process of an injunction against Uncle Bills to stop him from buying from unlicensed breeders; and consumers in Indiana are aware of the truth behind pet shop puppies!  While we think that the Daviess County Prosecutor's and Sheriff's offices acted unprofessionally, Indiana humane laws are so weak that someone like John Graber can leave a dog to die of injuries and not be charged with any crime.  Additionally, Indiana has no state law that governs dog breeders -- even those with hundreds or thousands of dogs.  Indiana humane laws must be changed to eliminate the neglect and cruelty inherent in puppy mills.
 

One of the most common questions we encounter is "How can I stop puppy mills?"  The simple truth is that if we knew the answer to that question, we wouldn't need a website or an organization - we would have done whatever it takes to stop puppy mills and the suffering of dogs producing puppies for pet stores.  While there is no one solution for stopping puppy mills, we do offer up suggestions to aid us in our educational campaign.

1.  Very generous donations have allowed us to erect the two billboards we have in Indianapolis, and to pay the rent on those boards through June 1st 2008.  Your help is desperately needed to continue funding these billboards through Christmas 2008.  If you'd like to donate by credit card or Paypal, you can simply click the "DONATE" button below. You may also donate by check or money order by sending to PetShopPuppies, Inc. * 22000 State Route J * Newburg, MO 65550. Please indicate "Indiana Campaign" on your payment. We are a Missouri state and Federal non-profit organization. Our Federal 501(c)(3) tax identification number is 20-5346850.

2.  Contact your State and U.S. elected officials by using this link.  Indiana residents can easily find their elected officials here. A simple letter, email or fax should work -- perhaps something like, "My name is ---- and I live in ---city/county/state---.  I am contacting  you on behalf of a problem in our state that I feel you should be aware off.  Please take a moment to view this website, http://www.petshoppuppies.org/Indiana.htm.  I think if you read through it you will understand my grave concern over this situation and how I believe our elected officials should be looking into the claims made by this organization and finding out how we can work together to find a solution to a seemingly impossible problem.  Thank you in advance for your prompt attention to this matter.  You may contact me at ---name, address, phone, email, etc.--- if you have any questions.  Sincerely, ---your name--."

3.  Join our mailing list by entering your email address in the box below.  This is a relatively low volume list that will announce any upcoming protest or breakthroughs in our fight in Indiana.

4.  Never buy a puppy, or even pet supplies, at a pet store that sells puppies!  Educate your friends, family and co-workers.  Even if they don't share in your passion for animals, let them know how important it is to you and ask that they join you in a boycott of all stores selling puppies.

5.  If you have purchased a puppy at a pet store (Indiana or elsewhere), take a moment to fill out our free puppy report request.  We will help you understand the origin of your puppy and the nature of the commercial dog industry.  If anyone you know has purchased a puppy from a pet store (please note, we only research pet shop puppies), provide them with the link for their free puppy report.  Even someone considering buying a puppy from a store should take the time to request info before their purchase!  Note that we must have the information on the breeder or we can not complete the request -- but quite frankly, why would anyone considering purchasing a puppy if the pet store refuses to even provide you with the breeder's name and address BEFORE they buy the puppy?  What do they have to hide?

6.  Pet stores often boast the following:

• We never buy from puppy mills and/or We only buy from USDA approved breeders.  USDA does not approve breeders, they license them and inspect them according to the minimum standards.  This video better explains the USDA standards. If you are considering the purchase of a puppy at a pet store, INSIST on the breeders' name, address and phone number, and INSIST that the breeder allow you to visit the facility where the dogs are raised, as well as meet the parents of the puppy you are considering.  Accept no excuses -- if the pet store or breeder refuse to grant your request, DON'T BUY THE PUPPY!

• We offer a lifetime guarantee.  This is often true, but what they don't tell you is that it involves returning your puppy or dog to the store for a refund or exchange.  Could you return your dog to an unknown fate just because it falls ill or needs an expensive surgery?  Indiana has no "puppy lemon laws" and in very few cases can you ever recoup any expenses without returning or exchanging the puppy -- or worse yet, taking the puppy back to the store's veterinarian -- often the very veterinarian that signed off on the puppy as being healthy to start with!

• Our puppies are healthy.  This may be true -- about 50% of pet store customers report no problems with their puppy and many problems are issues resolved in the first few months, such as parasites and kennel cough.  But we cannot stress enough that it is not the puppies that we are concerned with.  It is the parents of puppies in pet stores that we at PetShopPuppies.org advocate for every day!  Visit this video link for more information about this inhumane industry and the lives the breeding dogs live.

An educated decision when it comes to buying a puppy will result in years of health and happiness for both your puppy and your family.  Puppy mills are real - they are not just something you see from time to time on the evening news.  We work very hard to provide you with factual information to help you make an informed decision about purchasing a puppy, but the only solution to the inhumane conditions found in puppy mills throughout Indiana and the U.S. is to boycott stores that sell puppies. 

There are several articles available on the internet about finding a reputable and caring dog breeder.  There are also many shelters and rescue groups with available dogs and puppies -- many of them purebred.  The best sources of finding rescue dogs in your area are http://www.petfinder.org

http://www.indiana-paw.com/indianadb.htm

http://www.spayneuterservices.org/resources.htm

*Names have been changed to protect our sources