Pets for profit: An in-depth investigation
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A deep look into exploitation within the nation’s multibillion-dollar pet industry, from the unregulated pipeline of puppies and other animals imported to California, to lax oversight that enables abuses, and a public that is often left in the dark about it all.
Legislation would close the loophole in California’s pet retail ban by prohibiting brokers from selling or shipping dogs to consumers in the state, in response to a Times investigation.
A Times investigation has found that truckloads of dogs from profit-driven mass breeders pour into the state from the Midwest, feeding an underground market where they are resold by people claiming to be small, local home breeders.
California vowed to shut down colonies where hundreds of captive dogs supply blood for veterinary care. But blood from the closed colonies is still crucial for saving lives.
Little-known Wagmor Pets got famous by adopting dogs to stars such as Ellen DeGeneres and Sandra Bullock. Other rescue groups have cried foul.
A Times investigation found California officials destroy veterinary records that track dogs imported into the state.
California’s puppy pipeline: Where is your dog from?
The Times obtained scores of dog export records, law enforcement and animal control investigative files and federal inspection reports.
A Times investigation of California’s underground puppy resale market “raises serious alarms about the inhumane treatment of pets,” Gov. Newsom’s office said.
Following a Times investigation, California stopped destroying records that contain key details about the state’s underground puppy market.
