In the ongoing fight against pet shops and puppy mills, 2024 presented many challenges. But thanks to the generous support of our donors, CAPS scored major victories at every level: local, state, and national. Our undercover investigators went to pet shops and hard-to-infiltrate puppy mills across the country. CAPS used evidence from these investigations to advance and reinforce legislation in multiple states, including Michigan, Texas, and…
Read moreIn the ongoing fight against pet shops and puppy mills, 2024 presented many challenges. But thanks to the generous support of our donors, CAPS scored major victories at every level: local, state, and national.
Our undercover investigators went to pet shops and hard-to-infiltrate puppy mills across the country. CAPS used evidence from these investigations to advance and reinforce legislation in multiple states, including Michigan, Texas, and Florida. We released four new video exposés about pet shops, breeders, and brokers. And we featured many videos on social media and premiered a new documentary on internet puppy sales.
In California, CAPS has now saved more than 280 dogs from a high-kill shelter in Bakersfield, and we continue to shoot footage for a documentary about the crisis at the state’s municipal shelters. We also began shooting a documentary about animal cruelty in Kern County. Nationwide, our PSA on spaying and neutering (produced in both Spanish and English) aired on even more TV and radio stations this year.
These efforts and victories, made possible by your support, are just a few of our accomplishments in 2024. Please keep reading to learn more about the powerful achievements your donations have been generating.
CAPS began its New York Pet Shop Campaign as a collaboration with the New York Attorney General to expose and crack down on consumer fraud at pet shops. But because of the strength of our evidence, we also worked with New York legislators for several years to pass a state law banning the retail sale of dogs, cats, and rabbits. The legislation finally passed in 2022 and went into effect on December 15, 2024.
CAPS will be investigating any New York pet shops that are still selling puppies after the law takes effect, whether those stores are selling puppies outright or through fraudulent rescues. We will present any evidence we find to the New York Attorney General.
Our decade-plus of investigations in New York included multiple visits to the two Shake A Paw stores in Nassau County. We gave our evidence to the New York Attorney General, who filed a complaint to permanently enjoin the stores from operating and to seek restitution for defrauded customers. CAPS worked closely with the Deputy Attorney General in Charge of the Nassau County Office to help her prepare for the March trial, where she won $300,000 for 190 consumer victims.
CAPS spent 13 years laying the groundwork for a statewide retail ban in Illinois, which went into effect in 2022. Pet shops can no longer sell dogs and cats; they can only offer animals from shelters and rescues. However, some pet shops are violating the law. CAPS recently investigated five Illinois pet shops, including a Petland, that are still selling puppies. Some of these stores are also using finance plans, which state law makes illegal. CAPS presented this evidence to the Illinois Attorney General and the Illinois Auditor General, both of whom informed us that they do not have jurisdiction over the Illinois Department of Agriculture, which was put in charge of enforcing the retail ban law.
Therefore, CAPS plans to soon investigate all five pet shops again, along with puppy mills supplying them, and present our findings to the media and to the general counsel to the governor.
In June, California State Senator Henry Stern honored CAPS President Deborah Howard as a Senate District 27 Woman of the Year, one of 19 women chosen from 1500 nominations. Senator Stern wants to sponsor our shelter reform legislation, and we look forward to working with him.
Since 2022, CAPS has been helping Kern County Animal Services in Bakersfield, CA, an overcrowded high-kill shelter with as many as 400 dogs and puppies. The dogs live in small kennels in metal warehouses with no outdoor runs. So far, our efforts have saved the lives of more than 280 dogs and one black cat. Twice in the summer of 2024, CAPS provided 10-pound blocks of ice for 150 of the kennels when inside temperatures were over 90 degrees.
CAPS is currently producing a short documentary about the overwhelming incidents of animal cruelty not being investigated or prosecuted in Kern County. The cruelty is not just limited to residents; law enforcement and even an animal control officer are also responsible. We plan to use this documentary to seek special state funding for a county animal cruelty task force.
CAPS is also still conducting interviews and shooting more video footage statewide for our documentary about the crisis at California’s municipal shelters. ABC7 in the San Francisco Bay Area recently featured some of our footage of San Jose Animal Care & Services. We will use the finished documentary to reach out to California legislators to sponsor a bill to establish a shelter licensing and inspection program.
CAPS went undercover to all 13 of the pet shops in Michigan (and to breeders in Indiana and Ohio selling to them). The resulting video exposé reveals a shocking number of lies and misrepresentations at the pet shops, aimed at concealing the horrible puppy mills that supply their puppies. The evidence we gathered will be used to push for state legislation, sponsored by Rep. Penelope Tsernoglou, to ban the retail sale of dogs, cats, and rabbits.
We also investigated three Michigan-based puppy mills, two of which definitely sell online but don’t have a required USDA license. Conditions at one of the facilities, run by Jennifer Drew, were so appalling that CAPS reported her to law enforcement.
CAPS has been investigating Texas pet shops and the mills supplying them to provide evidence for a retail ban bill that Rep. Jared Patterson is pursuing. So far, we have investigated 20 of Texas’ 28 pet shops Unfortunately, Texas passed a preemption bill, which prevents municipalities from passing retail ban ordinances unless the ordinances are already in place. That is why a state law is more critical than ever.
Our investigation of unlicensed puppy mills in Texas also helped bring about new legislation that lowered the threshold of dogs allowed before a breeder must obtain a state license. Dog or cat breeders with at least five breeding females now have to be licensed and inspected if their animals are bred for direct or indirect sales. CAPS worked closely with the Texas Humane Legislation Network to make this happen.
Beyond this, we have partnered with the Texas Attorney General’s Office on a consumer fraud case against the seven Petland stores, two of which are run by notorious Petland franchise owner Luis Marquez, who also has stores in Florida and Kansas. Our investigator also investigated Marquez’ Petland franchise in Houston during the time he continued to sell puppies in violation of the city’s retail ban ordinance. We provided this evidence to the city, which had to take legal action against Marquez to stop the sale of puppies; the store ultimately closed for good.
CAPS has been laying the groundwork for pet shop ordinances in Florida, which currently has 68 pet shops, surpassing New York as the number one pet shop state. Over the last six years, CAPS has gone to at least 60 Florida pet shops to gather evidence in support of retail ban ordinances. We will soon be investigating more of the puppy mills that supply pet shops in Broward and Palm Beach Counties.
By coordinating with animal-friendly commissioners in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties, CAPS is pushing for ordinances in these municipalities to ban the retail sale of dogs, cats, and rabbits. Despite CAPS compelling investigative evidence, Pinellas County’s commissioners passed an ordinance that grandfathered in six pet shops.
CAPS also worked with the Tampa Bay Times and other media to provide investigative evidence on the pet shop Sunshine Puppies in Largo, as well as its supplier, Missouri-based Pinnacle Pet, and many of the breeders who have sold puppies to Pinnacle Pet. SPCA Tampa Bay was partnering with Sunshine Puppies to provide veterinary care to store puppies. In addition, the shelter started a program with Pinnacle Pet in March to offer breeding dogs for adoption. One adopter paid an adoption fee of $700 for a Cocker Spaniel who suffers from trauma. SPCA Tampa Bay was also planning to offer “imperfect” puppy mill puppies from Pinnacle breeders for adoption.
Due to media coverage and outrage from the local community, the shelter has suspended both the veterinary care and puppy mill dog adoption programs
In January and April, CAPS President Deborah Howard appeared on Talking Animals, a nationally streaming show on NPR affiliate WMNF in Tampa. She answered questions from callers, many of whom were upset about puppy-selling pet shops in their communities and about SPCA Tampa’s partnerships with a broker and a pet shop.
A CAPS Investigation of Pinnacle Pet wasn’t the only broker exposé we produced this year. CAPS also produced a video about Blue Ribbon Puppies, run, but no longer owned, by Levi Graber in Odon, Indiana. Nevada-based Cinco Rios, LLC has owned Blue Ribbon Puppies since 2015. The president of Cinco Rios is Steven Rook, the son-in-law of Andrew Hunte, who was the founder and president of The Hunte Corporation. Rook had been president of Hunte prior to and up to Andrew’s death in 2015. Select Puppies in Iowa subsequently bought Hunte and dissolved the corporation.
CAPS’s lead investigator worked undercover at Hunte for six months in 2004 and also investigated around 50 breeders selling to them. At that time, Hunte was the largest dog brokerage facility in the country.
Under the title CAPS Investigator’s Journal, our lead investigator writes comprehensive blogs for our website. Among the blogs he wrote in 2024 are those on dog brokers and Amish puppy mils.
Many of the horrible USDA-licensed breeders that CAPS has investigated are now selling online. We have also found numerous unlicensed breeders selling over the internet, which is a violation of the Animal Welfare Act. As usual, the USDA is not enforcing the law.
To bring awareness to this issue, CAPS released a much needed new documentary this year about internet breeders and sellers (those who buy from mills but don’t breed). The documentary includes undercover footage of mills that sell online and interviews with customers who bought sick and dying puppies online from sites like Craigslist and PuppyFind.com. Nothing else like this has ever been produced.
CAPS’ PSA about spaying and neutering is now airing on hundreds of local television and radio stations nationwide. As part of our National Latino Outreach Campaign, our primary focus is on obtaining wide distribution for the Spanish version.
The English version is also airing in some parts of the country, and we are really excited to announce that CNN is now airing the PSA nationally. The CNN placement has resulted in numerous calls and messages from viewers seeking information on low cost spay and neuter resources.
CAPS, as the nonprofit that pioneered the ordinance movement, is pouring its expertise and resources into banning the retail sale of animals across the United States through local ordinances and statewide laws. And we are now using our investigative, legislative, and videomaking expertise to address animal overpopulation and shelter overcrowding through our spay and neuter, shelter reform, and animal cruelty initiatives.
But the key to success in all of these arenas is evidence.
Legislators need to see irrefutable proof of what’s going on in order to be persuaded into taking meaningful action. This is why the thoroughness of our investigations and video production is so critical. And it’s why we continue to need your help.
None of our nationwide efforts would succeed without your committed support. Please donate today. Millions of companion animals are currently suffering as a result of mills, shelters, and abandonment. With your assistance, we can make real changes and put an end to this intolerable cycle of animal abuse.
