Sample speeches given at town council meetings
Speech A
Every year the Humane Society of the United States scours thousands of pages of state and federalinspection reports to compile a list of puppy mills called The Horrible Hundred. It’s meant to remind peoplethat there are lots of dog breeders - licensed and inspected by the government - where puppies and theirparents are treated so cruelly that if we did the same to our pets we’d be charged with a crime.
And though these licensed, inspected puppy mills are concentrated in Midwest states like Iowa, Indiana and Ohio, they concern us because they do a lot of business with New Jersey pet stores.
How bad is it in these puppy mills? Here’s some quotes taken directly from inspection reports referenced in recent Horrible Hundreds:
“The whelping building consists of raised kennels over a concrete wash-down. Its gutter was full of feces, oldfood, and maggots. A strong ammonia odor was observed upon walking up to the facility.”
“Some of the dogs only had plastic barrels for shelter with little or no bedding…the temperature the previousnight was less than 30 degrees.”
“One puppy had a leg torn off, according to a state report; the owner euthanized 14 unwanted dogs andpuppies, refusing an offer to send them to rescues; some were euthanized only because of burrs stuck in their fur.”
Now based on pet store industry claims, there is no way you would expect any New Jersey pet store to have used any of these breeders, right? Well, you’d be wrong. All these breeders have been used by one or moreNew Jersey pet stores. In fact, New Jersey stores have used Horrible Hundred breeders 105 times in the last four years.
But certainly not the Coalition of Responsible Pet Stores, the ones President Morton tells you use only asmall subset of their own hand-picked, best breeders? Their stores, with their extra strict standards of breeder selection, accounted for 50 of the 105 Horrible Hundred uses. All breeders licensed by the USDA,something Mr. Morton claims makes them immune to having these issues and should prohibit them from being labeled puppy mills.
These examples, and so many more, are a complete repudiation not only of their claims about the quality of their breeders, but also their claims about the safety net of state and federal regulations that shouldprevent this from happening. If the state and federal inspection process is so great, how do breeders like these get licenses and sell to their stores?
How can it be? It can’t. These people are charlatans. They take advantage of your unfamiliarity with thisissue to make like the tobacco companies of the 20th century and try to convince you there is nothing bad to see here.
In fact, there is plenty bad to see here. But if you pass this ordinance, you can make sure your town never becomes an unwitting participant in this ugliness
Speech B
Daniel Gingerich was a dog breeder from Iowa. Because of the nature of the dog breeding industry and current New Jersey law, midwestern states like Iowa and Missouri and Ohio is where New Jersey stores get their puppies.
Gingerich got a breeder’s license in 2019. By 2021, he had become the first dog breeder indicted by the federal government.
A New Jersey store can’t do business with a dog breeder if they’ve had certain Animal Welfare Act (AWA) violations within the past two years. There are two main categories: indirect and direct.
After 3 indirect violations, a breeder can’t be used by New Jersey stores. Gingerich amassed 176 indirect violations.
After only 1 direct violation, a breeder can’t be used by New Jersey stores. Gingerich amassed 27 of them.
Dogs were found starving and dying from thirst on his property. They were found dead. They were found decomposing. One poodle puppy died right in front of a USDA inspector.
There are 18 stores in New Jersey that sell puppies. According to public documents, three of them did business with Gingerich in 2020 or 2021.
Is Gingerich an extreme example? Yes. But is he an outlier, not representative of the horrors of an industry we’re asking you to protect your residents from?
You decide:
“All the water in receptacles for 45 dogs had frozen solid last night. The temperature at the start of the inspection was 24.8 degrees F.”
“The whelping building consists of raised kennels over a concrete wash-down. The wash-down gutter was full of feces, old food, and maggots. A strong ammonia odor was observed upon walking up to the facility.”
“Huge kennel with over 400 dogs was investigated for selling a puppy with deadly canine distemper; an associate admitted other dogs died, but he was unsure of the number.”
“One puppy had a leg torn off, according to a state report; the owner euthanized 14 unwanted dogs and puppies, refusing an offer to send them to rescues.”
I had to whittle this list down, way down. I could fill as much time as you would give me with examples and reasons this industry is a nightmare for dogs and the people who want to help them.
So I really have two questions for you:
Why would you want to leave yourself open to knowingly aiding and abetting this industry when you don’t have to and it won’t cost you a thing? You can welcome all the pet stores you want. Just don’t let them sell dogs.
As you come to understand the moral issues in play here, and given that you have a shelter in town, why would you not make a statement on the part of your constituents that you want no part of this industry?
There is no harm you can do in passing this ordinance, except to breeders who want to continue flooding stores with their puppies. But for all the suffering dogs those breeders house, there is a lot of good in this ordinance.
Speech C
If you pursue this ordinance, you will no doubt hear from New Jersey pet store owners who think it is a very bad idea. Their main contention is that our claims that they use terrible breeders whose animals suffer is false. Their counter-claim?
Listen to it in their own words, from a website 7 New Jersey stores calling themselves the Coalition of Responsible Pet Store owners put together…
“The coalition works with only a small group of breeders who pass rigorous, unannounced inspections … as well asstricter requirements pursuant to New Jersey law, and far more stringent individual requirements of our coalition store owners.
“To put it simply, animal welfare is paramount to our operations and guides each and every decision we make. We will not source our animals from inhumane puppy mills.”
“We only source our puppies from the best breeders.”
Which brings us to the Horrible Hundred, the Humane Society’s annual list of some of the worst breeders in the country.While there’s no statistical way to objectively rank breeders, none covet inclusion on this infamous list, which the Humane Society publishes annually to, among other things, “inform the public about ongoing animal welfare concerns at puppy mills and to warn consumers about problem puppy sellers, especially those who sell online or through pet stores,
Here are some examples of problems the Humane Society found at Horrible Hundred breeders over the last five years. These are direct quotes from the reports:
Please bear with me as these dogs’ suffering speaks much louder when the list is heard in its entirety. The story thesebreeding dogs, who spend virtually their entire lives in the puppy mills, tell is important, and will become more clear at the end.
Some dogs had only a sheet of plastic used as a source of shade above their outdoor enclosures, and it was “torn and chewed.”
The dogs appeared to have barely enough room to turn around, no space to run and play, and very little headroom in their small hutches.
USDA’s findings that at least two litters of puppies appeared to have been transported from Iowa to Wisconsin with no proof of a required health certificate shows the dealer was not evencomplying with the most basic laws related to making sure puppies are healthy before transport or resale
The January 2022 visit was the third inspection in about six months during which the facility was found not properly documenting dog records, meaning it could have beenobtaining dogs from anywhere and essentially “laundering” them under a USDA license.
Some of the dogs only had plastic barrels for shelter with little or no bedding…The temperature at the time of the inspection was 46 degrees and the temperature of the previous night was less than 30.
One puppy had a leg torn off, according to a state report; the owner euthanized 14 unwanted dogs and puppies, refusing an offer to send them to rescues; some wereeuthanized only because of burrs stuck in their fur.
All the water in receptacles for 45 dogs had frozen solid last night. The temperature at the start of the inspection was 24.8 degrees F.”
Golden retriever with two deep, open wounds down to the muscle tissue had not been treated by a veterinarian.
A state inspector found a Maltese dead in an outside doghouse and noted that the body was frozen.
A direct violation for a female dog “hunched over” with painful prolapse; breeder’srecords show he knew about the condition for six weeks but didn’t contact his veterinarian.
“The whelping building consists of raised kennels over a concrete wash-down. The wash-down gutter was full of feces, old food, and maggots. A strong ammonia odorwas observed upon walking up to the facility.”
A Yorkie was found with such advanced dental tartar that the shape of his teeth was no longer visible
Huge kennel with over 400 dogs was investigated for selling a puppy with deadly canine distemper; an associate admitted other dogs died, but he was unsure of the number.
“several enclosures” did not have enough space inside for the dogs to “sit, stand and lie in a normal manner.”
When you listen to the pet store owners and their allies, there’s no way you would ever imagine any of them would ever have used even one of these breeders.
In fact, they’ve used all of them. At least one New Jersey pet store has sourced from every breeder just described. In fact,over the last three years, New Jersey puppy-selling stores used Horrible Hundred breeders 95 times.
There are misguided reasons to reject this ordinance, but please, do not let one of them be the argument that New Jersey stores do not do business with a dog-breeding industry that puts profit over the welfare of animals, resulting in much suffering and death. That part of this issue is no longer up for debate. The only question before you is whether or not you want to be a part of the problem by allowing such a store in your town or part of the solution by passing this ordinance.
Speech D
I’m not here to talk about them. I’ve been talking about them for nine years and frankly I’m sick of it.
I’m sick of finding out about breeders they’ve used like Judy Massen, who admitted on her own paperwork that she euthanized dogs by shooting them in the head. I’m sick of researching all the Horrible Hundred breeders they’ve used, like Milton Lewis, who refused an offer from a rescue for some dogs with burrs in their fur and killed them instead.
Today, I’m here instead to talk about you. I want to talk about how much research you’ve really done to properly educate yourself on this issue. Do you know about Daniel Gingerich, nicknamed the worst breeder in America, who had accumulated over 100 violations the same year two New Jersey pet stores used him? Do you know they’re not allowed to use breeders after three indirect violations, or one direct one?
And did you know that the two stores who used Gingerich failed to include him on their breeder lists? Did you know how common this is, stores leaving breeders off their lists? Or using unlicensed breeders, or failing to hand in breeder lists? Did you know these are all violations of the Pet Purchase Protection Act? And did you know Consumer Affairs won’t investigate these things, even after well-researched complaints have been submitted?
If you vote no on this bill today, I hope you don’t know any of this, because the only reason I could understand for your failure to end this nightmare of an industry is willful ignorance. And that would certainly explain it, wouldn’t it. I mean, how else could so many stores get away with so much unless the prevailing thought is, well, if a person is party to that kind of cruelty they should be punished, but if it’s a business thing, let’s look the other way and collect the tax revenue.
You know when I taught 8th grade civics, I used to tell my students that government’s main job was to protect those that needed it, be it people, the environment or animals. Do your legacy a big favor today. Show me I was right.