A New Bern author and former elementary school teacher is working to spread the word about the tragedies of puppy mills and the long-term and sometimes lifelong problems the pet store puppies that come from them can endure.
The Humane Society of the United States’ Puppy Mill Action Week is always the week before Mother's Day, and this year it falls on May 7 to 13. Jo Anna Kloster said the date was chosen to honor the mother dogs who are bred relentlessly and often in horrifying conditions.
“If you want a dog, please go to a shelter or a rescue; to tell others about the problem of pets or puppies, and to not get them because of where they come from, puppy mills. Let's see … to go volunteer at a shelter and help out there,” she said. “So, it's just bringing awareness to the problems of the mothers in the mills. Of course, the fathers, too, but the mothers are there pumping out litter after litter after litter until they can't and then they're usually ... killed.”
Kloster says canine companions were always part of her life, but her worldview about animal treatment changed when she adopted a Maltese that had been rescued from a puppy mill in 2009.
Cagney was locked in a cage until he was seven months old, and Kloster said he had antisocial behavior which worsened over time.
“He was attached to me like … glue. Wouldn't let me out of his sight. Started becoming extremely protective and barky. Not letting people come onto the property, not letting people come into the house. He was reactive to many things,” she explained.
At the time, Kloster was a third-grade teacher.
"So, I started writing about this for my students during writing workshop, my little third graders, you know, you write what you know,” she said, “And, so, they had all these questions, ‘Mrs. Kloster, they locked him in a cage all day. Why did they do that? That's cruel.’ ‘They stacked them in cages, they had to go to the bathroom on top of one another?’ They couldn't believe it.”
Kloster searched for a book that would help her students better understand puppy mills and animal treatment, but soon found that one didn’t exist. That’s how she came to write “Lily Unleashed.” She also formed the publishing company Empty Cages Press.
In a 2021 study by the Animal Legal Defense Fund, North Carolina ranked near the bottom, 42, for state animal protection laws.
Kloster is a representative for the Human Society of the United States advocate team and a volunteer for Bailing Out Benji, and she said a bill introduced on the federal level, the Puppy Mill Protection Act is about raising standards at puppy mills.
“It's going to be hard to believe that we have to ask for these to be required, that it's just not common sense,” she said, “But that the dogs are no longer walking on wire flooring so that their feet can't get mangled. Two, that they are let out of their cages every day for play, exercise and socialization. Three, that they get water, 24/7 access to it. Four, that they get vet care when needed. Five, that they're no longer in stacked cages. Those are the main ones. Oh, and the biggie is that the cage must be large enough to allow the biggest dog inside to stand on its hind legs and not hit his head on the ceiling.”
The bill introduced in the U.S. House also protects retired breeding dogs by requiring breeders to make every effort to find humane placement for them.
Those interested can contact their representative and ask them to cosponsor the legislation HERE.
Another proposal is Goldie's Act, which is part of the Federal Farm Bill. It was named for a dog found emaciated at an Iowa puppy mill run by Daniel Gingerich.
"At Gingerich's puppy mill, they found a dog, a golden retriever that was skin and bones, and they wrote that in their notes but they did nothing,” Kloster said. “They came back three months later for a courtesy visit, and they wanted to see Goldie -- they didn't call her Goldie, she was #143. They couldn't find her. He had hidden her, but then they found her and they had to euthanize her immediately because she was just on her last legs. She was just dying before them.”
The bill requires more inspections of puppy mills and it also requires USDA to confiscate animals that are suffering. It would also impose fines for violations and includes a requirement that inspection information is shared in a timely manner with local law enforcement.
Contact your congressman to co-sponsor this bill HERE.
