Animals,Social Issues,DogsSEP 8, 2020

Huge Illegal Dog Breeding Operation In Lithuania Is Exposed After Dog Gets Kidnapped And Found In Illegal Puppy Mill

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A dog’s unconditional love, companionship, and loyalty to humans is so great that nobody can deny it. No wonder people call dogs man’s best friend!

Sadly, not everyone thinks that way as there are people who aim to benefit financially from dogs by setting up sub-par breeding grounds and exploiting them under inhumane conditions.

But, where there’s a wrong, there’s also someone who’s making it right.

A dog recently went missing who was eventually found captured in an illegal puppy mill

Image credits: LRT

It all started last Thursday in Kretinga County, Lithuania when one person’s West Highland White Terrier named Sniegė (Snowy) went missing. The owners and their friends ended up tracing it back to a warehouse with about 18 other caged purebred dogs. They immediately called the police and reported the situation.

Soon after, a video popped up in the Lithuanian Facebook group Gelbėkime gyvūnus iš pragaro (Save Animals From Hell) showing another location that was suspected to function as an illegal dog farm where animals were seen living under gruesome conditions.

Turns out, their only source of water was a bathtub full of extremely dirty stinking water that had started to bloom with algae. Many dogs were kept cooped up in numbers that exceed the allowed veterinary standards. Some were seen with unhealthy drooping skin and wounds because of this. The dogs also showed signs of abuse as they were reluctant to approach the rescuers.

The story lead to a bunch of people starting to locate illegal puppy mills around the country

Image credits: V. Šiaulinskienė

News of this sent a shock-wave throughout the country, causing public outrage. LRT, Lithuania’s national television and radio service, reported that the scope of the issue is bigger than it was first thought.

A number of illegal puppy mills were found and identified in Kretinga, Širvintai and Tauragė Counties within days. Massive amounts of volunteers as well as several animal rights groups and state authorities rushed to the scene to investigate and to rescue the animals.

In response to this, many illegal breeders started trying to cover things up by hiding their puppies or getting rid of them by any means possible: abandoning them in fields, setting them free in forests, or even killing them.

Videos exposed the horrible reality that purebred puppies are living through on a daily basis

Image credits: Rugilė Ri

Many suspect corruption within the system as one particular illegal breeder has been breeding dogs for many years and has even been fined for it, but nothing was realistically done to put an end to it.

The authorities explained that they are often not allowed to conduct full investigations as breeders won’t allow them on their private property.

The good news is that the tide has started to turn. A number of animal rights organizations and animal shelters have stepped up to rescue and provide shelter to these animals. Much progress has also been made with the help of volunteers scoping out the illegal breeder locations.

The dogs are cooped up, fed dirty water, if fed at all in some cases, and some of the dogs show signs of neglect

Image credits: Rugilė Ri

In some locations, the police found canine remains, either lying dead or chopped up into pieces—this was after the breeders found out about being pursued and attempted to get rid of the dogs

Image credits: Kristina Ada

One such organization, Nuaro fondas, posted on their Facebook that they have so far been able to rescue a total of 61 dogs from multiple illegal puppy mills. Also, the State Food and Veterinary Service has also issued an order to confiscate 12 dogs from one such illegal dog breeder, who is also facing criminal charges.

Nuaro fondas explained that rescuing animals isn’t as easy as just taking them away. Everything has to be done through the local authorities—otherwise, it’s just barging into somebody’s private property and stealing, thus removing the evidence from the actual culprits.

Volunteers as well as animal rights organizations and authorities have come together to put an end to this

Image credits: Nuaras Lietuva

Image credits: Nuaras Lietuva

Update: a number of developments occurred over the past day in response to the widespread puppy mill scandal in Lithuania.

Besides Skelbiu.lt, a popular classified advertisements website in Lithuania, announcing that they will now implement system filters showing who is selling documented and undocumented dogs, the Lithuanian Police and the State Food and Veterinary Service have agreed to collaborate on the issue at hand. These include active inter-institutional coordination of actions in order to solve the problem of animal mistreatment in puppy mills in more efficient ways, more frequent police patrols and the ability to conduct planned and unplanned raids based on sufficient information, and a number of other preventative measures.

Also, a number of other rescue organizations and shelters joined the cause. While Nuaro fondas rescued a couple more puppies since yesterday, organizations like Lesė, Penkta koja, Keturkojo viltis, SOS gyvūnai, Linksmosios pėdutės, and many more have done their part in rescuing tens, if not hundreds of dogs in the current days.

Animal shelter called Nuaro fondas, among many others, started rescuing and taking in dogs

Image credits: Nuaras Lietuva

Image credits: Nuaras Lietuva

Nuaro fondas also issued a statement that while volunteers can help in the matter, it is a must to do so through the proper channels together with the local authorities. Nuaro fondas had to ask people to stop jumping to conclusions and mobbing people based on unverified information.

You can help the cause by donating individually to Nuaro fondas or any of the other shelter or organization mentioned above, or to Gyvūnų gerovės iniciatyvos (Initiatives For The Wellbeing Of Animals), an animal rights organization dedicated to solving issues regarding the wellbeing of animals through education, legislation, and investigation of animal rights violations that will distribute the donations among the many animal shelters.