A big THANKYOU to everyone who sent in objections to Ballarat Council. Dr Ron Wells has withdrawn his application to re-open his puppy farm. Hundreds of dogs lives have been saved.
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Ron Wells is attempting to re-open his notorious puppy farm in Ballarat to once again factory farm dogs.
After an exhausting 10 year battle we successfully shut down this puppy farm in July 2005.
Ron gave Patty Mark and I just 17 of the 200 dogs left on the property, even though I had arrangements in place to take all 200 dogs. The remaining dogs were sent to other puppy farmers to continue their miserable lives as breeding machines.
During the 10 year battle we had to save countless dogs from this property because they required urgent vet attention. 1000 female dogs were kept confined and pregnant their entire lives and suffered horrendously in appalling conditions whilst Ron sold their puppies in pet shops and exported them to Singapore.
Tuesday 18th June Patty Mark and I traveled back to the property to see if there were any dogs and what condition the property was in. We were shocked to find decomposing puppies in a fridge, 7 large medical waste buckets full to the brim of used syringes and drugs. The entire property was putrid and the stench nasueating.
We cannot let this puppy farm re-open, please email an objection to the Mayor of Ballarat immediately.
Mayor Stephen Jones
mayor@ballarat.vic.gov.au
| Death Row Pets documentary on Channel Nine’s Sunday program. Click on the picture links to the left to view the documentary. Now that you have watched the story please go to the following sites and register your support for Clover Moore’s Bill to ban the sale of pets in pet shops. I would like to thank everyone for all the emails of support I have received over the last week. The response to the story has been amazing and provides me with so much hope. I spent the day yesterday at Ron Wells Ballarat puppy farm which he is trying to re-open. You wont believe what I found. Story and photo’s will be posted shortly. |
Kirstine Lumb, a journalist with Channel Nine’s Sunday Program has been working on a story that exposes the pet industry. It goes to air June 15th between 7.30 and 9.30 am. A big thankyou to Kirstine for helping to expose what really goes on behind the pet shop window.
Email everyone you know, don’t miss this story!!!!
At dawn on May 21, Austrian police broke down doors of homes and offices across the country and seized campaigners at gunpoint. Since then, 10 shelter workers, animal welfare teachers and public campaign organizers have been held for more than two weeks under suspicion of membership in “a criminal organisation”. No charges have been pressed.
Dr Martin Balluch, Chairman of the Association against Animal Factories in Austria has been instrumental in abolishing the battery cage, fur farms and wild animals in circuses so that in Austria today they have the best animal protection in the world.
He is successful, that is the only reason why he has now been sitting in a cell with nine of his collegues for 16 days
This is not a case about illegal animal rights activities. It is because the movement has been too successful.
“…I ask everyone who cares about animal protection and human rights to take action now to prevent this crime. This kind of police arbitrariness against NPOs is something we might recognize in dictatorships, but not in a democracy. Please stand up strong; stand against this outrageous injustice. My life depends on it.
Dr Martin Balluch” (on day 16 of hunger strike)
Please show your support for human rights by writing protest mails to the following Austrian politicians. These random acts of police repression could happen to any one of us, who cares about how animals are
treated:
Home Secretary; Dr Günter Platter
ministerbuero@bmi.gv.at
Minister for Justice; Frau Dr Berger
minister.justiz@bmi.gv.at
Federal President; Dr Heinz Fischer
heinz.fischer@hofburg.at
Federal Chancellor; Dr Alfred Gusenbauer
alfred.gusenbauer@bka.gv.at
Those in power seek to remain in power. To do so they need control over what people know, think and believe.
In April this year I along with four other activists again inspected the filthy ACA puppy factory farm to further expose the truth and help the dogs. It has taken me so long to write this piece, because I was stuck somewhere between shock and hopelessness. The trauma of that night will never leave me.
Like many activists working for animals I’ve been arrested numerous times and spent nights in police lock up. I’ve had guns pointed at me, I’ve been thrown to the ground and kicked in the back, I’ve waded through manure pits, I’ve been chased by security guards and angry factory farmers, I have been sexually assaulted by a factory farmer when I refused to leave dying animals on his property, I have dug under and climbed through electric fences and I’ve had animals die in my arms countless times.
I have been called a terrorist, a criminal, and an animal rights lunatic. But nothing I have endured comes close to the animals suffering on puppy factory farms.
And on this night I experienced some of their terror at the hands of their owners. It is unbelievable the length the owners of ACA puppy farm and their mates went to in an attempt to prevent us from getting the truth out to you.
As we entered ACA puppy farm just after midnight we stared into the faces of the hundreds of “breeding machines”. To look into the eyes of a confined dog and into the next and the next and the next and the next makes you feel like you’re on the edge of your sanity. Their eyes scream a silent agony of despair, their spirits broken. I can’t pick up 400 dogs put them in my car and leave, all I can do is film they’re suffering and get the footage out there because the truth cannot be changed until it can be seen.
We spent two hours on the property filming the dogs and their living conditions.
Their water bowls were full of black slime and appeared not to have been cleaned for some months. It was a freezing 4 degrees and none of the dogs had any bedding in their shelters. The shelters do not provide adequate coverage from the wind and rain. We saw about 400 dogs and about 200 puppies that night. There are three “birthing sheds” at ACA which hold about 50 dogs each. A number of dogs were in the process of giving birth alone on a concrete floor in these enclosed sheds. We filmed the pups rolling around in all the blood on the sheet of cardboard that had been placed there and the poor mother dog staring up at us with haunting, pleading eyes. How many times has this mother dog been forced to give birth in order to make her owners rich?
At about 2am I once again braced myself, as I had to turn my back on the dogs and walk away. I tell them, “I’m sorry” and, “I’ll be back”. The precious video evidence in my hand, their only hope of freedom.
We had driven 20 minutes away from the puppy farm when headlights confronted us. As seconds ticked by it became obvious the car was on the wrong side of the road and was driving straight for us. On a small dirt road in the middle of no where we had no choice but to pull over as there was no way around the car that was determined to make us stop.
What happened next was violent, confrontational and completely unprovoked by us. We phoned the police twice and were prevented from leaving by the owners of ACA puppy farm for over an hour in frightening circumstances. When the police arrived I was the only member of our team arrested and I was put in a police van and spent the night in lock up. So I spent the night getting a feel of what the dogs endure on puppy farms day in day out. It simply made me more determined to return as soon as I got the chance.
I am legally prevented from detailing exactly what took place on that dirt road as it is before the courts and I will be pleading not guilty. When I am found not guilty, and the evidence will vindicate me, I will write about what the owners of ACA and their mates did to us in an attempt to prevent you from seeing the truth.
The owners of ACA puppy farm are angry that you are all writing letters to the Council. They told me so that night.
They are getting desperate, as evidenced by what occurred on that dirt road at 2am. They are prepared to go to any lengths to stop my team and I from getting the evidence out to you. They are even making claims in writing that the RSPCA purchase puppies from them. Last time I checked the RSPCA was not in the business of buying puppies. Evidence of their defamatory comments has been forwarded to the RSPCA.
Its going to be a long cold winter for the dogs on ACA. We will not give up on them.
Your letters are having an effect do not stop, do not take Council’s excuse’s. Council have failed in their duty of care towards these animals by not enforcing the Code for 14 years.
Demand closure of ACA puppy farm now.
The Mayor’s e-mail address is darren.mccubbin@wellington.vic.gov.au. Please also CC your e-mail to the Shire Field Services Co-ordinator: gary.jago@wellington.vic.gov.au
Clover Moore, the Mayor of Sydney, has introduced to the NSW Parliament a private Members Bill to ban the sale of pets in pet shops. If this Bill is passed, the dogs hidden away and confined in puppy farms have taken one step closer to freedom.
Amazingly the Australian Veterinary Association is opposing the Bill. Traditionally, we look upon vets as the guardians of animal welfare, and their Code of Professional Conduct states that “Veterinarians should not condone animal suffering, nor be party to it” and to “Always consider the health, welfare and respectful treatment of the animal”.
What Australian vets are apparently telling us, by opposing this Bill, is that it is acceptable to cage a dog from birth until death and to use that dog as a breeding machine to pump out highly marketable products to display in pet shops.
Is it respectful to continue to use that dog for breeding when her mammary glands are dragging on the ground, her uterus has prolapsed and her teeth and gums are rotten and infected so she cannot eat or drink adequately?
Apparently it is OK that she attempts to eat her puppies as soon as she gives birth to them because she has gone psychotic from years of confinement and deprivation. It is also good to only feed these confined dogs every second day, just enough to keep them alive and pregnant. It’s also not cruel to take this dog to the back of the puppy farm, knock her on the head to kill her, throw her body in a manure pit and replace her with one of her female puppies to continue the cycle of breeding.
So why is the Australian Veterinary Association opposing this Bill when it would clearly help to stop the suffering of dogs?
It is of course in the interests of vets to keep puppy farming and pet shops in business, for they are one of the industries also making money from the suffering. Puppy farmers must have a written agreement with a vet in order to be granted their permit from local Council’s (who also profit by way of annual registration fees). Pet shops must also employ vets to vaccinate all the puppies and of course the pet shops promote the vets business to their customers.
The Australian Veterinary Association, in their 9 page submission to NSW parliament, failed to mention once where pet shops get their puppies from.
SHAME ON AUSTRALIAN VETS
It is vital that we lobby the New South Wales politicians and let them know the truth about what really goes on behind the pet shop window.
Members of Parliament place more weight on personal letters, emails, phone calls and visits. MPs need to hear how important this issue is directly from you before they will advocate for the Bill in their parties and in Parliament.
Please contact:
From the NSW Government:
The Hon Ian Macdonald
Minister for Primary Industries
Governor Macquarie Tower
1 Farrer Place, Sydney NSW 2000
Email: macdonald.office@macdonald.minister.nsw.gov.au
From the NSW Opposition:
Mr Chris Hartcher
Shadow Minister for Local Government
Shop 3 Fountain Plaza
148 – 158 The Entrance Road, Erina NSW 2250
Email: terrigal@parliament.nsw.gov.au
Sydney filmaker William Wolfenden spent two years researching the Australian pet industry and how the demand for the family pet has seen a rise in puppy farming.
The documentary details how pet shops have turned animals into commodities. It also shows the history of how the wild dog became “mans best friend” and ultimately how we have betrayed that friendship.
William Wolfenden is not an animal rights activist and this is not an activists film. The documentary is targeted at mainstream australian consumers and will have a huge impact in raising awareness about the real truth behind the pet shop window. The documentary features footage taken at various puppy farms.
I urge everyone to get a copy of this documentary and show it to your friends and family as this documentary will not fail to have an impact.
The more voices we can get to speak for the dogs locked away on puppy farms, the greater their chances of freedom are.
Visit www.thepuppymill.com.au for more information.
The happy smiles puppies bring universally would turn to tears if people saw where they came from… it’s not cute, it’s not pretty and it’s got to change.
There is legislation regarding the breeding of companion animals but it is not working and never will. I have been working in this field for twenty years and know the legislation inside out and I have never known it to improve conditions for the dogs, to prosecute owners or to revoke a permit when there are violations. There is no effective legislation helping these dogs.
We must fight to abolish puppy farms. It is wrong and cruel what is happening to countless mother and father dogs and their offspring in these breeding prisons. Even if the legislation worked the parent dogs would still be slaves and their only ‘value’ would be their ability to breed and when that ends they are killed.
The Story So Far:
Ballarat Puppy Farm – perseverance not legislation closed it down
The owner of this puppy factory, Liberal MP and vet Dr Ron Wells, violated the Code of Practice for Breeding and Rearing Establishments (the code) for 10 years. Dr Wells even sat on the committee that developed the code.
During these 10 years we carried out close to 100 investigations on the property and wrote to the Ballarat Council after our undercover raids, detailing all the violations to the Code. The RSPCA and Council were given video and photographic evidence of cruelty. We also gave them statutory declarations from three former employees that detailed horrific treatment and cruelty to the dogs.
The employees wrote about how dogs were smashed up against fence posts to kill them, dogs being hit on the head with a hammer, critically ill dogs given no veterinary treatment when they were so ill they could not stand or breathe properly, untrained staff injecting dogs, dogs dying whilst they were giving birth due to the pups being stuck in the birth canal, dogs with prolapsed uterus’s through years of continual pregnancy and mother dogs eating their own puppies after their continual confinement driving them mad.
Over the ten year campaign I also witnessed appalling cruelty on this property which was documented time and time again and given to authorities. Some of the dogs on this property had fur that was matted so tightly it dragged on their skin causing painful skin tears which became infected and dogs not able to eat due to rotten teeth from their inadequate diet. We photographed dead dogs who had been thrown into manure pits, and on one raid I found 13 dead dogs on the property. In a one month period during 1996, 97 puppies died of heatstroke because of their inadequate living conditions.
We continually gave all the evidence to authorities who failed to act each and every time. Hundreds of dogs died a terrible death on this property and hundreds more spent their lives living in constant terror and confinement because the authorities failed to act. Even the Victorian Veterinary Registration Board would only give Dr Wells a slap on the wrist when they were presented with our evidence.
In 2004 I lead a team of 50 activists and media onto the property in broad daylight to document conditions once again. We found a puppy near death in a cardboard box who we rescued but sadly this puppy died later the next day. The media stories helped to raise more public awareness which put more pressure on Council to act, but still they failed to.
In 2005 I had enough of Ballarat Council’s failure to take action and enforce the law so I found my way into the Mayor’s office and refused to leave. Outside 30 supporters conducted a powerful, loud, passionate demonstration. Three months later Ballarat puppy farm was shut down and Dr Wells declared “I will never touch another dog”.
Ron Wells was never prosecuted for cruelty or violations to the code.
Strathbogie Puppy Farm – classic case of legislative bungling
In 2006 a 290 page Council document landed on my door step. The document detailed horrific cruelty at a puppy farm in the Shire of Strathbogie. That Council had paid an independent vet to conduct an inspection of each dog. The vet was forced to put down 17 of the 120 dogs found on this property because they were in such appalling conditions they could not be saved. Dead cats were found in cages with ones who were still barely alive.
The vet report on the remaining dogs reads like a horror story, a small sample of the four page report reads
* 3979 Maltese - fleas, shot jaw
* 4013 Maltese- temp 40.14, unable to vaccinate needs vet care
* 4008 Maltese - sore right eye, shot jaw, needs vet care
* 3996 Labrador - head lesion, lightweight only 22kgs, fleas
* 4002 Jack Russell - temp 39.68 unable to vaccinate
* 3945 Retriever - has 1 foster pup 5 natural, needs antibiotic, 30kg
* 3948 Retriever - unable to vaccinate, rapid breathing, ear infection
* 3972 West Highland - generally appears in poor health
* 3954 German Shepherd - lightweight possibly underfed
* 3947 German Shepherd - very light needs more food
The vet report also stated the dogs were “unfit for breeding” The RSPCA were aware of this puppy factory and an inspector visited the property.
So did the legislation help in this case? No, the owners were never prosecuted for cruelty, the Council did not revoke the permit and close them down, in fact once the vet left the property after being there all day putting dogs down and vaccinating and inspecting others, the owners were not bothered again. They continued operating their puppy farm, business as usual.
Council admitted they had enough evidence to prosecute but they “did not want to stimulate a huge emotional and public outcry in the community” and that if they did prosecute and seize the dogs it would cost council $15,000 in dental treatment alone plus the care costs.
The RSPCA did nothing.
So the dogs continued to suffer because the authorities failed to act.
Sale Puppy Farm - the legislation joke continues…
ACA Breeders, a puppy farm in Sale with 400 dogs has been violating the code for almost 14 years. The dogs on this property live in 44 gallon drums with the word “poison” stamped on the side. The owner describes these drums as “hotels” and states “the dogs are very happy”.
I know these dogs are not happy and live a life of terror, confinement, deprivation and continual pregnancy.
So what are the Authorities doing ? Well at the moment the Wellington Shire refuses to acknowledge my letters of complaint detailing all the violations to the Code.
But then again they have failed these dogs for 14 years, so should I be surprised?
I need your help to shut down this puppy farm
Please email the Wellington Shire Council Mayor and ask him to withdraw the permit for ACA Breeders because they are violating the Code of Practice.
The Mayor’s e-mail address is:
darren.mccubbin@wellington.vic.gov.au
Please also CC your e-mail to the Shire Field Services Co-ordinator:
gary.jago@wellington.vic.gov.au
The legislation is not working
The only way to free these dogs from their misery is to lobby your local MP, tell her/him to make this issue a priority, never give up on making a noise for these dogs locked out of sight. There is no justification for puppy farms when we are killing 350 dogs each and every day in Australian pounds and shelters. Educate everyone you know about the issue, when we purchase a puppy from a pet shop we contribute to this heartless underground industry, an industry the pet shops don’t want you to know about.
This is the truth about that ‘puppy in the window’ that ACA don’t want you to see.
ACA Breeders is a puppy factory farm with hundreds of dogs kept in appalling conditions. 44 gallon drums are being used as kennels for many of the dogs (some stamped with the word ‘poison’). Some of the breeding dogs are kept in tiny caged enclosures on concrete floors with nowhere to sleep, except for a plastic drum with a hole cut in the bottom. These dogs are not loved pets they are breeding machines. They are used to make their owners rich through sales to pet stores, including the ACA Breeders pet shop in Wantirna.
My investigation into ACA Breeders received full page coverage in the Sunday Herald Sun (November 18, 2007) under the headline ‘How could they be so cruel?’ The article detailed the lives of terror, confinement and deprivation suffered by factory farmed dogs. We raided the property again in late November and discovered the same horrendous conditions, the same breeding dogs living in misery.
Intensive puppy breeding is the hidden cruelty behind the pet shop window. The general public are unaware of these puppy breeding farms where thousands of dogs across the State are kept imprisoned for life churning out litter after litter of puppies. Female dogs come into their first season at approximately 4-6 months of age and this is when many unscrupulous breeders mate them for their first litter, when they are still only puppies themselves.
Mother dogs are not given any rest or reprieve between litters and are kept in a continual cycle of pregnancy. Father dogs live their entire lives locked in pens with small runs, if they are lucky, and are only there to ’service’ the female dogs. Both the mother and father dogs spend day after day after day ceaselessly pacing back and forth in small enclosures, their only way of coping with endless despair. These intelligent animals are never walked, socialised or given any love; they are simply breeding machines. Pups are weaned from their mums between 4 and 5 weeks of age and then transported to pet shops for display to the unsuspecting public. Pet shop owners depend on love at first sight when people, especially kids, see the adorable little puppies, as it prompts people to make an impulsive purchase. What the consumer can’t see is the puppy’s mother imprisoned miles away in her small pen awaiting repeated pregnancies.
FACTS
In Australia we kill approximately 160,000 dogs every year because they are homeless, lost or abandoned. 350 unwanted dogs killed each and every day. The problems that cause animals to end up in shelters are preventable and the solutions are in our hands. Councils can have an impact on this issue by making the right decisions and taking the correct action. Councils are spending thousands of dollars on killing dogs in their pounds and shelters at the same time as they allow the breeding of more dogs by issuing permits for puppy farms to operate. It is time we get them to stop.
(1) HELP SHUT DOWN THIS PUPPY FARM
URGENT ACTION NEEDED NOW! ACA breeders have been violating the Code of Practice for 14 years and the local Council have not bothered to enforce the law. E-mail the Wellington Shire Council Mayor and ask him to withdraw the permit for ACA Breeders because they are violating the Code of Practice. The Mayor’s e-mail address is darren.mccubbin@wellington.vic.gov.au. Please also CC your e-mail to the Shire Field Services Co-ordinator: gary.jago@wellington.vic.gov.au
(3) SPREAD THE WORD
Educate everyone you know and ask them not to buy a puppy from a pet shop. If you or anyone you know wants a companion animal, please consider taking a dumped dog off death row. This is much better than paying these puppy farmers who abuse the animals that are innocently in their care.
Watch my slideshow showing images of dogs living lives of misery at Learmonth puppy farm (shut down in 2005 after my 10 year campaign) and at ACA Breeders, the targets of my current campaign.