Debarking should never be an option (petition; please sign!)

[CountAllVotes]

Neighbors don't like debarking for 600-dog kennel (01/25/06)
Foes of the facility proposed near Little Falls, Minn., worry about debarking and waste. The owner says he will run a humane operation.

A proposed breeding kennel with 600 small dogs has some rural Morrison County neighbors and others speaking out -- in part, because at least some of the animals won't be able to speak for themselves.
"It would be deafening to hear that many dogs bark, but the owner's idea to have some of them debarked just doesn't seem fair," Vicki Davis, executive director of the Tri-County Humane Society in St. Cloud, said Tuesday. "Dogs bark out of frustration. Some will be in cages. They should be able to bark."

The proposed kennel's size has others upset. "Six hundred! Oh, my God, sounds like a puppy mill," said Joyce Borglund, who says she has bred dogs for 11 years in Prior Lake.

more here:

http://www.startribune.com/462/story/201592.html

Sign the "Debarking should never be an option" petition below!

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/522872311?ltl...

Thank you for helping to stop this inhumane act!

CountAllVotes

[IndyOp]

1. Signed. My comments:

Debarking is unacceptable. If someone is creating a 'breeding facility,' and thinks they will need to debark dogs to make the facility acceptable to neighbors, THEN THE FACILITY IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. Pet animals should be raised and bred in family homes so that their health is properly tended to and the social contact they receive will make them good pets.

[Grateful for Hope]

2. Signed the petition

It is totally unacceptable.

[BrklynLiberal]

3. Signed petition

[CountAllVotes]

4. McDuffee has a record with his kennels!

We must shut him and all other abusers DOWN and shut them DOWN NOW!

Apparently, McDuffee has been caught before and is now back in business with another 600 dogs!

This MUST stop! We cannot allow our best friends to be mutilated!

Thanks for signing the petition! Every vote counts (2,000 signatures are needed please).

:kick:

[CountAllVotes]

5. more on McDuffee & the "Happy Trails Kennel"

>> Expired medical drugs were found on June 12, 2002. In that same inspection, the USDA agent said the interior height of enclosed kennels for 15 dogs didn't allow enough head room.

The USDA generally grants kennels two days to comply. Otherwise, kennels can be fined as much as $2,750 per violation for every day they are out of compliance.

<snip>
In other reports furnished by the USDA, the owner of an affenpinscher puppy bought in December 2003 and traced to Happy Tails, said his dog was sold with internal parasites and hernia repair. In addition, a cocker spaniel puppy was sold with a stomach virus that required hospitalization.

The USDA reports also note the number of adult dogs kept at Happy Tails fluctuated -- rising to 829. .

http://wcco.com/pets/local_story_034151517.html

and also ...

Additionally, media reports indicate that Gary McDuffee's wife, Wanda, who runs the Happy Trails Kennel in Morrison County, was cited by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in November 2005 for violating the federal Animal Welfare Act. The USDA found that the cages for the 800 dogs kept at her facility were substandard—cage height is required to be at least 6 inches higher than the tallest dog. The inspector also said, "There were too many dogs in the enclosures and they couldn't move around freely."

To top it all off, in 1998, the American Kennel Club suspended Wanda McDuffee from registering any of her dogs with the club for 10 years because of false litter registrations .

Morrison County Administrator Tim Houle said that when the county approved Happy Trails' conditional use permit in 2001, the facility had to be licensed by the USDA. If the USDA suspends or revokes McDuffee's license, her county permit would become invalid.

Please contact Houle and the Morrison County commissioners and urge them to retract their approval of both the 600- and 800-dog breeding facilities—which Morrison County residents know are puppy mills. Remind board members that animals suffer for the pet trade, and tell them that for every animal brought into this world at a kennel that they approve, another must die at an animal shelter.

http://www.peta.org/Automation/AlertItem.asp?id=1749

and again ...

>> 600 dogs + de-barking = puppy mill in Morrison County, Minnesota February 18, 2006 — blogdog (Views: 258)
Gary McDuffee was recently awarded a conditional license by Morrison County Minnesota Commisioners to build a commercial dog breeding facility (puppy mill) in Belle Prairie, Minnesota just north of Little Falls that would house 600 small to medium size dogs, some of which would be de-barked.

Once local townspeople and neighbors found out about the plan, they started raising their concerns about mistreatment of the animals through proposed de-barking as well as poor facility conditions and potential environmental waste issues due to dog manure run-off, not to mention the fact that who really needs a 600 dog-breeding kennel and what else could it be but a puppy mill?

But the county apparently agreed to the new kennel because the commissioners “had no complaints” from the owner’s other puppy mill called Happy Tails Kennel in Cushing, Minnesota, 10 to 12 miles away from the proposed site, where de-barking is also conducted. Whether or not this is true is subject to investigation. <<

http://www.doggybloggy.com/modules/wordpress/

UNBELLIEVABLE!!!

Most of the links to this story do not work and this guy goes on his merry way it seems to me! :nuke: :grr:

:dem: :kick: :kick: :kick:

[Eurobabe]

6. Don't de-bark, get a Basenji!

signed the petition.

[madinmaryland]

7. De-barking?

:wtf:

I have never heard of that? WHY would anyone do that to the animals?

Sick, sick, sick.

[CountAllVotes]

8. likely suspects and "rationale"

1. "Breeders" that breed certain types of dogs that tend to bark a lot (like Shetland Sheepdogs). They are too lazy to deal with it. They keep them locked up in cages and breed them and the last thing they want to deal with is a bunch of loud barking dogs, they just want the money and that is it in many cases, especially that of "puppy mills". In the case of puppy mills, often no real "surgery" is performed - they opt to ram a steel rod down their throats and then they are "debarked". Nice people alright, real nice. :grr:

2. Some "rescue" groups (like the Shetland Sheepdog rescue) debarks the dogs that they "rescue" so they will be more "adoptable". I think they are a loathsome group and if you go back and read that petition, one of the people that signed it has a dog from a Sheltie rescue and it cannot bark and she is very sickened by this, not that I blame her!

It is sick, yes it is. Nothing like the cry of a dog that has been debarked. It is a squeaking whimper in most cases and it is inhumane!

:kick:

[madinmaryland]

9. Do people actually want dogs that don't bark?

:wtf:

If you want a dog that doesn't bark, then get a cat!!

[CountAllVotes]

10. I say if you don't want a dog that barks

don't get ANY pets! People like this probably declaw cats as well! :(

:kick:

[madinmaryland]

11. You're probably right!

All of the pets (all have been cats) I have ever had are as is. I want them to be as normal as possible, except for the spay/newter thing.

[CountAllVotes]

12. I agree with you!

I think that spaying and neutering is an absolute must. However, de-clawing a cat is very cruel. My former neighbors had two catsand both were de-clawed (and not happy cats either btw) and they promised the veterinarian that did the surgery on cat #2 that they would him indoors but they did not. One day, one of the cats got beat up badly by another cat in the neighborhood. It was a sad sight to see. The poor cat had a huge wound on him at least 6 inches+ long and was very sick.

And this neighbor that owned this cat thought this was "funny" even with the $500+ bill he had to pay. What a jerk! :argh: :grr:

So in my book, anyone that alters any animal to do what is does, be it bark, claw, fly, or whatever should be left as god made it. Those that do these horrible things to our pets should be heavily fined and/or jailed and given a hefty sentence at the very least.

I've noticed that de-clawing cats is rapidly becoming unpopular and something that only the very rich can afford. I hope it is made completely illegal, I know that plans are underway in my state. Any veterinarian that does either of these types of mutilations to a cat or a dog is certainly no veterinarian of mine! Boycott these veterinarians that do these types of things to our best friends! Maybe then they will learn.

:dem: