I’m Pete Paxton, undercover investigator for the animal rights and protection movement. I’m writing to inform everyone who works on behalf of animals that I have very compelling evidence that I was outed by a person I thought was a fellow “activist.” The timing of this duplicity leads me to believe that only one person could have been responsible. Let me first state that it is not my habit to publicly discuss grievances with other nonprofits in this space. However, this is not a simple grievance or difference of opinion. It is a dangerous betrayal that has put my very safety at risk.
After what has happened, I am publicly stating that I am opposed to the nonprofit Bailing Out Benji, as it has become clear that they are allied with the pet shop and puppy mill industry. Before I go into detail, allow me to discuss a bit of my background and accomplishments to provide context.
I’ve done undercover investigations for the animal rights and protection movement for the past 25 years, including more than 22 years of work for the Companion Animal Protection Society (CAPS). I’ve documented well over a thousand puppy mills. I’ve also worked undercover at some of the largest and most notorious puppy mills in the US, including Pick of the Litter (Kathy Bauck) and Martin Creek Kennel (C.C. Baird), obtaining evidence the authorities used to shut down their facilities and convict them.
I’ve investigated factory farms and slaughterhouses around the world. My work has been the subject of the HBO documentaries Dealing Dogs and Death on a Factory Farm, and I co-authored the book Rescue Dogs. The U.S. Attorney’s Office honored me with a Coin of Excellence for my role working undercover at a USDA-licensed puppy mill. At the request of a special agent, I did confidential informant work for the US Fish and Wildlife Service. I’ve dedicated my life to helping animals, and half of my career has involved fighting puppy mills.
On March 3, 2026, I visited Green Lawn Kennel (USDA license # 32-A-0853, owned by Joseph Schwartz) in South Whitley, IN. The facility commercially breeds and sells puppies through brokers to pet shops, including to Petland, the largest puppy-selling pet shop chain in the country.
There was unusual activity at the property when I arrived, including several vehicles parked in the driveway. I approached one vehicle, and the occupant told me that the facility was currently undergoing an inspection. I left and returned later, but after a woman at the kennel appeared suspicious and refused to allow me to see any of the dogs, I immediately left the area.
Two days later, I received three phone calls on my personal cell phone, spaced one minute apart, from a phone number with an 813 area code. I am extremely careful in my work, and because of this caution, I’ve been able to keep the same personal cell number for most of my career; it has never been compromised. Receiving these calls was shocking. I called the number back, and a man on the other end identified himself as Joseph Knepp with Lovable Gold Star Puppies. He said he was trying to reach me and identified me by my real first name and my alias of Pete. He said he knew who I was and why I had been at the facility.
Lovable Gold Star Puppies is a USDA-licensed broker (32-B-0242) that buys puppies from breeders to resell to pet shops around the country, including to some I have investigated for CAPS. Pet shops often use brokers because they provide a larger selection of puppies, but this practice can make it challenging for consumers and animal activists to determine the names of the breeders who bred the puppies. I have had no contact with Lovable Gold Star Puppies in the past, so there was no reason they should have had my personal cell number or identity.
Subsequently, I learned about a March 3, 2026, Facebook post by Mindi Callison, the founder and executive director of Bailing Out Benji. She stated in the post that she been at Green Lawn Kennel on that day and didn’t believe the owners should be persecuted for commercially breeding dogs. March 3, 2026, was the same day I had also been at Green Lawn.
On a March 5, 2026, Mindi commented on her March 3 Facebook post, “An undercover photographer/investigator popped up at the kennel on the very day I was there ….” She went on to say she felt the facility should not have been targeted for an investigation, and that there was nothing wrong with breeding dogs for commercial sale in this case because she felt the facility acted in a reputable manner.
Several years ago, a Bailing Out Benji volunteer, whom I still hold in high regard, asked if CAPS could do a pet shop investigation and video exposé in support of a town’s proposed pet shop ordinance banning the retail sale of dogs, cats, and rabbits. I had already investigated a notorious breeder selling to the lone pet shop in this town. Bailing Out Benji benefited from the time and resources CAPS used to investigate the pet shop and puppy mill and to produce a video. The ordinance passed.
The activist asked if I would contact Mindi about the work we were doing on Bailing Out Benji’s behalf. Despite a response from Mindi acknowledging she had my contact information, she did not respond to my attempts to communicate with her. To show her that I could be trusted, I provided her with my real first name and personal cell phone number, which I now deeply regret. The only logical explanation for how this puppy mill broker obtained my personal name and cell number, which again, have never been exposed, is that Mindi gave it to them.
Bailing Out Benji collects interstate health certificates and other public documents to track which brokers and breeders are selling to pet shops and online. They note which puppy mills have USDA violations and advocate against them. However, the nonprofit also promotes puppy mills that it has deemed “responsible” or “reputable.” This is a huge conflict of interest.
The animal rights and protection community is a big tent, in that we’re made up of a diverse group of people who have differences of opinion on tactics, strategies, and goals. However, the one thing we can all agree on is the importance of protecting the safety and identity of field investigators.
Over the course of my career investigating puppy mills, I have been attacked with weapons and guard dogs, had my car chased more than once, been illegally arrested, and had a USDA-licensed puppy mill broker, much like the one who called me, try to enter my parked car to take my keys from me.
I take my job seriously, and I take on these risks because of the cruelty dogs face in puppy mills. If a facility claims it is doing nothing wrong, it should have nothing to fear from investigators. Exposing my name and personal cell phone number to protect breeders is not only a reckless act that could cause me physical harm but is also the utmost betrayal of our larger community and, more importantly, of the dogs themselves.
Green Lawn Kennel, which Bailing Out Benji was actively working to protect by betraying me to their broker, had 112 dogs at their 2/10/25 USDA inspection, where the facility was cited for the following violations: unsafe housing; improper storage of food; dirty walls, floors, and doors; and large piles of accumulated feces. USDA inspections like this are unannounced. But when Mindi visits a puppy mill, the owners are given plenty of notice, allowing them to clean up in advance, as Green Lawn Kennel no doubt did before she visited this puppy mill with a Lovable Gold Star Puppies employee.
By working to protect puppy mills like Green Lawn Kennel and brokers like Lovable Gold Star Puppies, Bailing Out Benji has betrayed their goal of standing up for dogs and has instead decided to protect a breeder and broker who sell to Petland and other pet shops.
Bailing Out Benji supports these mills by calling them “reputable.” Mindi visits commercial breeders at their invitation. By contrast, I document facilities that don’t know I’m documenting them at all. What she sees and what I see are starkly different.
In an age where over 300,000 dogs are killed in shelters every year, I don’t believe that any group claiming to advocate for dogs should support commercial breeders, full stop. However, I know that many activists have varying views on dog breeding, and some may disagree with my view. That’s okay. But I refuse to support dog breeding because I know how easy it is for a puppy mill to appear reputable during a planned visit.
Every single animal mill (dog, cat, and bird) I’ve been to has claimed to be reputable, no matter how bad they were. And now puppy mills can turn to Bailing Out Benji to advocate for and protect them. It appears that Bailing Out Benji has become an organization that will go to such great lengths to protect commercial puppy breeders that it will put investigators’ very safety and lives at risk.
Mindi Callison may want to be the face of the anti-puppy mill movement, but instead, she is now the face of a reckless and dangerous act against an undercover investigator for the sole benefit of herself and the pet shop and puppy mill industry itself.
Let me close by stating that my commitment to ending animal exploitation will never end. I will continue my investigative work and public advocacy on behalf of animals without pausing, in the same way that I continued after previous threats and violent attacks. We assess, adjust, and move forward. I will protect myself and my identity, as I’ve had to do for the last two and a half decades, but I will not stop or slow down, because this work is about the animals. I’ll see you in the field.
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