Puppy smuggling draws protests (smuggled in from Mexico; most die)

Sun-Sentinel ^ | 4/28/06

[Wolfstar]

Alarmed by cross-border sales of ill pets, animal groups push for law
By Vincent J. Schodolski
Tribune national correspondent

SAN DIEGO -- Sandra McConkey's cocker spaniel had just died. Halloween was approaching when she and her daughter Ashley, then 14, were walking through the parking lot of the Plaza Bonita mall here.

All of a sudden Ashley started shouting, McConkey recalled. "Mommy, look, puppies, let's buy one!"

There in a box were two cocker spaniel puppies. "They were adorable," McConkey said. "They looked just like our dog who had died."

McConkey said she bargained with the Mexican woman selling the puppies, and eventually she and her husband paid $300 for both after being assured they were purebreds and had received the initial inoculations from a veterinarian in Tijuana, just across the border.

Within hours, however, both dogs showed signs of illness, and not long after, both were dead.

"My girls had to watch all this," McConkey said, adding that Ashley and her older sister, Jennie, were terribly upset.

Thousands of puppies brought into the United States from Mexico every year suffer the same fate. According to veterinarians and animal-welfare workers, 75 percent or more of the animals from Mexican puppy farms die within days or weeks.

And now there is increasing traffic in puppies from Eastern Europe, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. In response, the group is pushing federal legislation to curb dog smuggling.

[SNIP]

Beyond canine ailments such as parvovirus, distemper and scabies, "these dogs have diseases that can be transmitted to human beings," said Madeline Bernstein, president of the Los Angeles branch of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. She mentioned ringworm and mange as examples.

[SNIP]

[Darnright]

>If they ban the import of puppies under one year, then I cannot buy a purebred dog to improve my breeding program, from say Italy, right?<

From what I've seen, only importation of dogs in quanity will be changed.

Of course, it remains to be seen whether various humane groups, who cry that there are not enough homes for the homeless dogs in the US, and who decry even responsible breeding, will continue to import strays from Puerto Rico (Save a Sato).

[afraidfortherepublic]

Ooooh! Carry the puppies around? LOL I want to volunteer for that job! (I'm just joking -- a 15 week old Golden Retriever, or Lab, is already pretty big, even if they are still cuddly.)

[bpjam]

As a person who rescues dog and supports no-kill animal shelters, I'm with you. The puppy mills in the US are bad enough without having to import them from tijuana.

[Wolfstar]

As a person who rescues dog and supports no-kill animal shelters, I'm with you. The puppy mills in the US are bad enough without having to import them from tijuana.

Thanks. I agree. Our streets and shelters are already awash in homeless unwanted animals. Importing what amounts to dying little pups just adds to the suffering, no matter where the pups come from.

[NicNacPattyWac]

a while back I remember reading a post on a pet forum from an puppy owner who lost their new pup to parvo. I can't recall all the details, but remember the reply instructed the pet owner to bleach all areas in the home the puppy had come in contact with, and also not to bring another puppy in the house for a number of months since it also could be exposted since the virus lingers for some time.

[brytlea]

Excellent point. I was totally unaware of that (importaion of strays from Puerto Rico) until recently. I suspect most of the American public doesn't know it goes on either.

susie