Dog rescuers, flush with donations, buy animals from the breeders they scorn

[douglas9]

An effort that animal rescuers began more than a decade ago to buy dogs for $5 or $10 apiece from commercial breeders has become a nationwide shadow market that today sees some rescuers, fueled by Internet fundraising, paying breeders $5,000 or more for a single dog.

The result is a river of rescue donations flowing from avowed dog saviors to the breeders, two groups that have long disparaged each other. The rescuers call many breeders heartless operators of inhumane “puppy mills” and work to ban the sale of their dogs in brick-and-mortar pet stores. The breeders call “retail rescuers” hypocritical dilettantes who hide behind nonprofit status while doing business as unregulated, online pet stores.

But for years, they have come together at dog auctions where no cameras are allowed, with rescuers enriching breeders and some breeders saying more puppies are being bred for sale to the rescuers.

Bidders affiliated with 86 rescue and advocacy groups and shelters throughout the United States and Canada have spent $2.68 million buying 5,761 dogs and puppies from breeders since 2009 at the nation’s two government-regulated dog auctions, both in Missouri, according to invoices, checks and other documents The Washington Post obtained from an industry insider. At the auctions, rescuers have purchased dogs from some of the same breeders who face activist protests, including some on the Humane Society of the United States’ “Horrible Hundred” list or the “No Pet Store Puppies” database of breeders to avoid, maintained by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/investigations/dog-auction-rescue-groups-donations/?utm_term=.36f00ef47716

[irisblue]

1. I have,in the past driven a portion of a rescue dog transport.

This story makes me feel nauseated. Those poor dogs.

[exboyfil]

2. I saw the commercial aspect at our

local shelter. They responded very negatively to a side deal going on by someone giving up a dog and another wanting to adopt a dog. They are a good shelter, and there could be reasons for their concern (they do due diligence on adoptees), but they operate in a large part by the fees associated with adoptions. It can actually be more expensive to get a dog from them than a puppy mill.

Both are dogs were a year old at adoption and had prior owners (one must have been a sadist that did not deserve the fine dog we got). I love them to death. They have had a great life with us (they are 13 and 11). The best part of my day is when I get home, and I can take them on a walk. We adopted both these dogs from the shelter mentioned above.