RI Has A Problem With The Puppy Trade: State Vet

EAST GREENWICH, RI — Here's a hypothetical question. If you contacted someone on Craigslist about buying a television and were told to bring cash and meet by the side of a highway at night, would you do it? According to state veterinarian, Scott Marshall, D.V.M., most people would not buy a television set under such shady circumstances. But substitute the word "puppy" for "TV"? Unfortunately, there's a booming Internet market for puppies, and both people and puppies are suffering from it, he said.

According to Dr. Marshall, many of the sellers market themselves as rescue groups. They often sell the dogs out of their cars. Of course, Rhode Island does have some great rescue organizations, he said. He recommends East Greenwich Animal Protection League and Little Rhody Rescue as two examples. But these organizations are genuine rescues, he said. Some others are frauds. In reality, they are run by criminals who merely take down their webpage when they're caught and reinvent their business under a new domain name.

Ofc. Jennifer Ogren, with the state Department of Environmental Police, said the DEM now receives more complaints about puppy breeders than about any other type of animal issue.

Currently, the state has two cases pending against people selling puppies with falsified medical records, Marshall said. One suspect is a former drug dealer, who turned to the puppy trade after he was repeatedly caught and arrested for selling narcotics. Selling puppies turned out to be more lucrative and less dangerous, Dr. Marshall said. Although the state is pursuing criminal charges against these suspects, the reality is, most of the convictions will be expunged in a year's time.

Humane societies and pet lovers are not winning the war to end the cruel practices at puppy mills, he said.

Although many pet lovers believe the problems with puppy mills have been largely solved by closing the pet stores that sold puppies, in reality, the problem's become worse, he said. At least the brick and mortar stores could be inspected and regulated. They had to be licensed. They had to keep medical records, and their transporters could be inspected. It was not a perfect system admittedly, he said. But now it's all being done underground behind a virtual curtain. It's worse for the animals that are being put through suffering. And it's worse for the people who buy a puppy only to lose it because it never had any shots or proper care, Dr. Marshall says.

Patch is asking for the court records about pending cases and will continue the story about the Rhode Island puppy trade.

Photo Caption: Tammy Flanagan, of the East Greenwich Animal Protection League, with two rescue puppies.