Just the name Honey Boo Boo conjures up shudders in most people at least when applied to some weirdly popular, attention-seeking missile of a child on American reality TV. When applied to this pup, however, well, I'd much rather watch this girl on TV than the other one.
Honey Boo Boo came in along Magoo and Penny from a puppy mill via Kismutt Rescue and she was adopted out almost immediately.
These three, though, may be some of the last puppy mill rescues Toronto Animal Services South will get from Kismutt. That's because just over a month ago, one of the papers local to the area published an article which seemed to imply there was no puppy mill problem in the area and that basically Kimberly Thomas, owner of the rescue, was making it all up in her head.
“I’ve been in the kennels three or four times [this year] and they are fantastic,” says local animal control officer Evelyn Hahn.
Is this what Hahn considers "fantastic"?
All of the above photos were taken by Thomas of dogs from puppy mills in her area.
The article is so obviously biased against Thomas that the reporter didn't even try to keep up appearances of objectivity by at least interviewing her for her side of the story.
If memory serves me correctly, immediately after the on-line article came out, dozens of comments protesting the biases in the reporting were submitted and now, even those have been deleted.
So, now the word is out in the puppy mill community that Thomas is trying to expose their deeds and the millers no longer call her up to buy their used dogs.
One can only assume the worst with regards to what the millers are doing with their unwanted livestock now.
Magoo, Penny and Honey Boo Boo were rescued just in time. A week later and they'd be ... well, you figure it out.
There's a chance Thomas may still have access to mill dogs from farms further afield who didn't receive the particular newspaper in question but otherwise there's no silver lining to this story. Even more dogs and pups now will live their whole lives under brutal puppy mill conditions and then they will be unceremoniously killed.
I cannot believe they put out such an article and what's more that they take the time to delete intelligent posts. Disgusting and shame on them.
It's more than expose: a number of people associated with her have started a petition, at the demand of hundreds, even thousands of people who have read about these mills, to ban them in Ontario. It needs to be done, but the dogs will pay the price until it is. Copies of the petition are at most veterinarians, or you can sign here: https://www.facebook.com/PeopleAgainstPuppyMillsOntario .
As a journalist Elena Maystruk should be beyond ashamed for the irreparable damage she have caused with her poorly researched article, not just to the hundreds of dogs trapped in puppy mills in Wellesley, but to the hard and thankless work of Kismutt Rescue.
I'm amazed the paper is allowing her to continue reporting, let alone defending her by removing the huge trail of comments that were posted the following days and weeks championing Kismutt.
I would be very interested to know if Kismutt is getting any more dogs at all.
I wouldn't even call that individual a journalist. A syncophant comes to mind - clearly and obviously in kahoots with the animal control department which doesn't like being shown how ineffective and outright useless they are. That's really sad.
Thank you very much for publicizing this. People are oblivious to the cruelty of mills until it's shoved in their faces.
someone tell us what we can do to help shut down puppy mills please! Our politicians seem not to care. The cruelty laws are pitifully weak and the millers are without soul. I despair at the life of these dogs,. And to add to the horror I heard yesterday that MIchael Vick has got himself a dog! Shouldn't he have been banned from owning a dog for life?
Since I realized that declawing of cats is still legal in Canada, nothing surprises me anymore...