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]

[Wolfstar]

We're accustomed to thinking in terms of drug smuggling and trafficking in human beings, but even the most innocent among us are smuggled across our borders. They are sold to soft-hearted Americans for several hundred dollars apiece only to die shortly afterwards.

[Wolfstar]

Hi "Hair." Calling this article about puppy smuggling to your attention in case you want to ping your Doggie list.

[BubbaBobTX]

Doing the jobs that American dogs won't do.

[kinoxi]

just killing the puppies Americans won't kill

[2banana]

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.

Some Americans are pretty stupid...

[kinoxi]

sorry, you've got quicker fingers than me right now :)

[Wolfstar]

just killing the puppies Americans won't kill

Ironic, but a true statement. The innocents, very young children and, in this case, very young pups, are always the ones who suffer most when adults break the law or refuse to enforce it.

[x1stcav]

I don't buy Mexican puppies or Mexican produce. This is my counter-boycott...modest though it is.

[Wolfstar]

Some Americans are pretty stupid...

Some are soft-hearted, too.

[End Times Sentinel]

she bargained with the Mexican woman selling the puppies

inoculations from a veterinarian in Tijuana

Most of the greatest tragedies in my life have involved these two phrases.

I didn't have the courage to read further and determine the outcome.

[Wolfstar]

I didn't have the courage to read further and determine the outcome.

The outcome is that the Humane Society, ASPCA and other such organizations are trying to get legislation passed in Congress to ban important of puppies under one year.

The tragic and ironic thing is, such legislation probably won't have any effect given that we aren't controlling our borders.

I hate that this will become another illegal immigration thread, because, dog lover that I am, I do want to focus attention on this particular issue of puppy smuggling. But in this instance, the two issues are intertwined.

[Trust but Verify]

"Puppy snuggling? How can you protest puppy snuggling?"

"Uh, Miss Littela, that's protesting puppy smuggling, not snuggling!"

"Oh, well that's quite different. Nevermind."

[Wolfstar]

:)

[pollyannaish]

I have a question for you...and while I have to take off for a bit, I am very interested in your answer.

It seems to me, that the better the Mexican economy, the more likely the illegals are to stay home. Your beef would be with American producers that hire illegals.

So, your regarding your boycott—doesn't it make more sense to boycott American produce? However, that flies in the face of those who don't want outsourcing...so perhaps that's the issue.

In any case, I'm just trying to get a grasp of where you are coming from on this. (I understand the puppies. ; ) )

[vetvetdoug]

Why go to Mexico? West Tennessee and Northeast Mississippi have hundreds of puppy mills with sickly mange infested puppies to ship to unsuspecting fellow citizens. The USDA turns a blind eye to the mills in this area. There are flea markets in the area, First Mondays, as they are called where one can see scabies infested, sickly, and heartworm infested dogs for sale from all over the country. Ironically, there are research dog buyers to get the older dogs at these events and leave the puppies for the animal lovers.

[ClaireSolt]

After 9/11 I was struck for one Middle Easterner's praise of America where even the dogs are cared for.

[kinoxi]

'boycott American produce" ? please explain

[HairOfTheDog]

I guess living as far from Mexico as I do, I'm surprised the ~Mexican~ puppy issue is a ~bigger~ problem than the basic issue of people failing to get puppies shots, no matter where they are from. Puppies bought or rescued from cardboard boxes in parking lots often have Parvo no matter where they come from. And Parvo is a brutal way to watch a puppy die.

Please, everyone, don't expose puppies to the world without their shots. Parvo is everywhere, not just Mexico.

Ping!

Other articles with keyword "DOGGIEPING" since 12/29/04

[poobear]

Wolfstar, with much regret I ask that you remove me from your ping list. Regards, Poobear ( my Yorkie Poodle Terrier)

[Hetty_Fauxvert]

What kind of a nitwit buys "purebreds" from a woman in a parking lot?! Good grief!!

Poor dogs, though. If people weren't total idiots and kept buying these poor animals, this practice would cease.