Jackson County Georgia Puppy Mill

Many of you have seen on the news about the puppy mill bust that occured in Jackson County, Georgia recently. Tonight, March 17, the county commissioners will meet to decide the fate of 300 plus dogs, including dachshunds, who were being held in terrible conditions. They may be returned to the owner. If you can attend tonight (Monday) at 6 pm, please show your opposition to large-scale breeding practices.

If you cannot attend, please email the people at the bottom of this message. Even a short email or phone call may be enough to help, telling the commissioners that there are many people out there who do not condone this type of treatment.

Many county officials do not understand what animal cruelty is, how animals in this type of breeding mill suffer from the effects, and how important it is to make sure the owners of the LD Farm are held accountable for their treatment and that they should not get the dogs back.

It is a real possibility that they MIGHT get them all back if the powers that be (below) don't understand the implications of this type of treatment of the animals.

One of our DREAM foster homes has seen the dogs in question personally; she reports that "it would be very unfortunate for these animals if they were to return to the owners."

A 19 year old girl was brave enough to turn these scumbags in after witnessing the abuse first hand. Let's help finish the fight she began for these babies. Here is her original testimony, retyped from the county documents (uncorrected):

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Jackson County Code Compliance February 18 – 19, 2008

I Tiffany Butler was looking in the newspaper last weekend for a job when I ran across a ad that said Kennel Help Needed. I called the number 706 247 2180, spoke with Jennifer and set up an interview the next day (Sunday) at 10:00 am.
After the interview she told me that the position was filled but that if things didn’t work out I would get the full-time job, be paid $6.00 an hour under the table NO TAXES. Monday morning, 2-18-08 Jennifer called me a little after 8:00 am wanting me to come and word ASAP, I arrived around 8:30, and clocked in at 9:00. Shortly after clocking in another employee proceeds to “train” me. The first place I went into was the “puppy” room, This is a room built onto Marie’s house that they put puppies into before a customer comes, Its’ the only “clean” room….while in this room, I saw cock roaches, infesting the walls, After leaving the “puppy room” I went up the hill into the puppy barn.
This is a place full of mom dogs with there new born pups. This room was also infested with roaches, the “barn” smelled horriable, to the point where it was hard for me to breathe. The other employee showed me how to clean the pans under the cages. She told me to do that whole room of cages, there was at least 10 – 15 dogs in the room (not pups) in the same “barn” where the mom & pups are together there are 20-30 moms & pups, this room too was filled with roaches, they were falling off of the ceiling into my head.
After leaving that room I went into a trailer that too was filled with dogs (10 – 15) I proceeded to do my job, that afternoon in the room where the mom & pups are, I notices a shi-tzu pup try to stand up, but she had no energy to do so, she fell over and laid there. I proceeded to call Jennifer, to tell her about the pup, she said she already knew about the pup, that it had been that way for a few days. I asked her if they were going to take the pup to the vet. She said “no” I asked why, she said it “cost too much” …
So I asked if I could take the pup home and try to force feed her to keep her alive. She said, “you don’t have too, it’s up to you, it’s going to die either way.” So I took the puppy home and force fed it throughout the night and next morning. The next morning I went back to work, however the night before I had a LONG discussion with my boyfriend (Adam Casper) who also worked at the kennels, after discussing all the problemes we found we decided to try to do something about it. I had not seen the worst part.
Tuesday morning I went into work, the first thing I saw when I walked into the room beside the house was a tiny black and whit Chiva-pup, almost dead. I took the pup out of the cate it was in, put gloves on and briskly rubbed the pup to try to stimulate him. The pup had already lost control of it’s bodily functions. I rubbed the pup for over 45 minutes, Brandy and Jennifer walked into the room and asked if he was “down” I told them yes and that I had been trying to revive it for about 45 minutes. Brandy took the pup from me and rolled it up in a towel.
She put a heating pad into the cage and laid him on it. I then asked if they were going to take the puppy to a vet. Jennifer said “No, they wont do anything for him and it cost too much anyway.” Then I asked her “if they could go get a whot to put him to sleep.” She said “we don’t want to do that either because if he does make it I don’t wont to be the one that killed him, and if he makes it we will sell him” Then Brandy and Jennifer left the room. At that time the other employee told me “I’ve seen worse, it only gets worse. But the won’t do anything b/c this is there money” After leaving that room, we walked up to the room with all the moms and pups. I told the other employee I was going to get Adam, my boyfriend and Another employee to show me the boxers on the hill, she said OK. Adam then drove me up the hill, That’s when I decided to quit. On the hill there is 2 rows of pit-pulls, no food, no water. In the kennels there was mud, water, urine, and feces, that these dogs are living in. The dogs have open sores covering their bodies. There are horses that you can count every rib in there body. IN one cage in the barn there are 10-20 dogs in what looks to be 6x6 cage. All of these dogs too are sick and have wounds covering most of there bodies. All in all this place is a puppy mill, they breed dogs until they die…the other employees stated to me that when something is mentioned to the authorities they have to clean up extra good …
When I left the property today Jennifery and Brandy were gone, they both have been calling wanting the shi-tzu pup back…I have ignored there calls.
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Here's a link to the story: http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/022408/news_20080224085.shtml

Please help if you can.
'I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something.'
~ Helen Keller

Board of Commissioners Meeting
Date: 3/17/2008 6:00 PM
Location: Jackson County Courthouse - Jury Assembly Room
5000 Jackson Parkway
Jefferson, Georgia 30549
(706) 367-1199

Pat Bell, Chairperson pbell@jacksoncountygov.com
Tom Crow, Commissioner tcrow@jacksoncountygov.com
Jody Thompson, Commissioner jthompson@jacksoncountygov.com
Bruce Yates, Commissioner byates@jacksoncountygov.com
Dwain Smith, Commissioner dsmith@jacksoncountygov.com

Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight. ~Albert Schweitzer