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]

Are you suggesting that we cannot talk, on this thread, about things that don't interest YOU?

No, of course not, susie. I'm merely explaining my own personal interest in the story and why I started the thread. Nothing more.

[darkwing104]

I've heard they also have cat juggling down there too!!!

That has the makings for a good candidate for the Darwin Award.

[HairOfTheDog]

I'd guarantee she had Parvo vaccine with the shot series your vet gave her then... and if she's six months, she's past the really critical risk anyhow. Pups get parvo, adults rarely do.

I can't explain why Parvo isn't discussed or as well known as the other canine diseases... Because it's environmental, meaning it's ~everywhere~ - they don't get it from another dog, they get it anywhere they go. It's intestinal, causing sever diarrhea, and the poor pups just dwindle and dehydrate and get weaker and weaker and usually die, whether you treat them or not. Very heartbreaking to watch. You can spend hundreds nursing them and they still die. Every unvaccinated pup I've ever seen has ended up with Parvo. Usually pups belonging to friends who try to get by on the cheap and forego shots. They may get away with that with adults, but not pups.

Pinging vetvetdoug, just to double check my facts... I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn last night.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

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

:) That is how I read it the first time too.

I was ready to blast some silly animal rights goofball.

[RushCrush]

Thank you- that sounds like one she's gotten but I'll definitely double check.

[RushCrush]

Thanks for the info! I will bookmark the link. You guys are great.

[Wolfstar]

The moral of this story is...they steal dogs and resale them to other Americans...those dogs are not necessarily born in Mexico.

Wow, shield, thanks for warning us. Thank heaven you got your dog back. As someone raised as a Roman Catholic, I was taught that people are made in the image and likeness of God. But I have to say, all too often, it's hard to believe that.

[Wolfstar]

LOL! OK, are you going to explain how that photo was made? Grin...

[GSWarrior]

Dunno! I was searching for that scene from The Jerk where Steve Martin juggles cats. Couldn't find it.

[Wolfstar]

Thanks for the info!

You're welcome. As HairOfTheDog and others have indicated, your pup probably has been vaccinated against Parvo even if your vet didn't specifically mention it. But it wouldn't hurt for you to just doublecheck with your vet just in case.

[Wolfstar]

Dunno! I was searching for that scene from The Jerk where Steve Martin juggles cats. Couldn't find it.

Grin...well, it's funny. Thanks for posting it. :)

[Spiff]

Dr.Demento Lyrics - Dead Puppies



Dead puppies, dead puppies,
Dead puppies aren't much fun

They don't come, when you call
They don't chase squirrels at all
Dead puppies aren't much fun

My puppy died late last fall
He's still rotting in the hall
Dead puppies aren't much fun
No, no, no

Mom says puppy's days are through
She's going to throw him in the stew
Dead puppies aren't much fun

Dead puppies, dead puppies,
Dead puppies aren't much fun
Dead puppies, dead puppies,
Dead puppies aren't much fun

Dead puppies, dead puppies,
Dead puppies aren't much fun






(I'm Looking Over) My Dead Dog Rover


I'm looking over my dead dog Rover,
That I over-ran with the mower.
One leg is missing the other is gone.
The third one is scattered all over the lawn.
No need explaining the one remaining
It's splattered on the kitchen door.
I'm looking over my dead dog rover,
That I over-ran with the mower.




Happy Boy

One day my dog got hit by a truck
Hubba hubba hubba hubba hubba
Stuck his guts in a box and stuck it in my drawer
Hubba hubba hubba hubba hubba

Cuz I'm a happy boy (happy boy!)
I'm a happy boy (happy boy!)
Ain't good when things are going your way...hey hey?

Forgot all about it for a month and a half
Hubba hubba hubba hubba hubba
Looked in my drawer and I started to laugh
Hubba hubba hubba hubba hubba

Cuz I'm a happy boy (happy boy!)
I'm a happy boy (happy boy!)
Ain't good when things are going your way...hey hey?



< ducking >

[Trust but Verify]

That's my sister's dog, Maisey, the old english bulldog. She IS a cutie.

[brytlea]

Actually, no, the PAWS bill is bad for hobby breeders, and actually not nearly so bad for large scale commercial breeders. It will most likely have the unintended (by some--I certainly beleive PETA is behind most of the legislation now out there and if you know anything about them you will know that their goal is NO PETS) consequence of making even more of our puppies come from commercial, and not hobby breeders.
susie

[Two-Bits]

We were told in regards to NAFTA.......Give them our manufacturing blue collar jobs and there will be no reason for the illegals to want to come here......Okay, that obviously didn't work. Now I'm sure this mass influx of illegals has nothing whatsoever to do with welfare, free medical care, food stamps, free education, etc.............Nah, they come because they like hanging with the gringos.....LOL

[brytlea]

Thank you! :)
susie

[brytlea]

I really thought everyone knew about the dreaded parvo. Maybe just because I'm involved in dogs and worked for a vet. It is the scariest thing we are likely to see in our puppies. Unfortunately maternal antibodies interfere with the vaccine, so there is a window in which the puppy may be vulnerable.
susie

[brytlea]

Had a friend who used to show them. They are the CUTTEST puppies. I couldnl't live with one, but I loved to visit hers.
susie