Stand Firm and Never Give Up

Since launching The Cavalry Group almost six years ago, I have witnessed, first-hand, a systematic attempt to over-regulate, unfairly inspect, and penalize professional animal enterprises out of business.  

It's fair to say that the origin of this tactic can be traced directly to what we all know as the "animal rights movement," a line of thinking, or ideology, that has gradually gained a foothold in universities and government throughout the past forty years.  What was once a ragtag group of extremists is now a multi-billion-dollar coalition of organizations that raise money under the guise of improving animal welfare and running pet shelters, but ultimately spend that money on the promotion of increased regulation on animal ownership and enterprise with the goal of ending both.

These groups have pushed for unsupported regulatory changes in many states to achieve their goals.  These regulations often mislead state and federal legislators, local committee members, and the general public as to their actual effects and true impact on animal owners, breeders, and animal agriculture. Instead of using facts and science, the activists prey on the emotions.  And, sadly, it is working.

A recent example of this ploy is California AB-485, the Pet Rescue & Adoption Act, statewide legislation crafted by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) to advance their campaign to halt the sale of puppies, kittens, and rabbits in pet stores sourced from USDA licensed, inspected breeders, while mandating that pet stores source their animals from rescues and shelters.

Pet sale ban legislation has already taken effect in local jurisdictions across America including thirty-three cities in California, fifty cities in Florida, ninety-six cities in New Jersey, and a handful of cities in states like Illinois, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Utah and even, Texas.

In April of this year, I flew to Sacramento and testified before the California Assembly, Business and Professions Committee to oppose AB-485 and found that the legislators were deeply committed to supporting the bill.

Since California legislators and Governor Jerry Brown have been marching in step with the animal rights groups for a while, I wasn't shocked by the overwhelming support for AB-485, but it disappointed me greatly that there is such little regard, not only for pet stores but for the pet breeders, themselves, who provide the pet stores with animals to sell. Animals that consumers demand!

Silly me. I actually believed there would be support for legally operating, tax-revenue-creating businesses in the Business and Professions Committee.

Nope. AB-485 passed the Committee with a 10-1 vote. And, sadly, on September 12, 2017, AB-485 passed the Senate with a vote of 32 out of 40 Senators.

It is well documented that HSUS has been pushing this campaign to ban the sale of animals in pet stores at the local level, state by state, since 2013 with their goal of replacing the sale of purebred and mixed breed puppies in pet stores with adult dogs from rescues and shelters from unknown sources. 

Mandating the sale of animals sourced from unregulated sources, such as rescues, is doing nothing to stop animal abuse or unscrupulous breeders. Pet stores provide an accountable, traceable source for pets and should, at the very least, be acknowledged as legal, legitimate businesses which are self-sustained and bring in a steady stream of tax revenue. But, alas! Lawmakers have bought into the emotional propaganda that USDA licensed facilities are all "mills." Not only do they not approve of breeding, they discourage to the notion that those raise animals should do so for profit.

These pet sale bans are also further proof that one day in the not so distant future owning a purebred dog, much like the Pembroke Welsh Corgis seen in this photo with Governor Brown and his wife, will be difficult to come by and available only to the wealthy elite.

Will purebred dogs become a luxury only for the wealthy elite? Pictured here: Governor Brown and his wife with their two Pembroke Welsh Corgis.

Does this mean we fold up our tent and go home? Absolutely, NOT!  We all must continue to be vigilant in our mission to inform and educate legislators and the public. While animal rights activists and extremists paint a frightening, emotional picture with their propaganda, the truth is that just because animal activists "care" about animals does not mean they know anything about animal care.  Those engaged in actual animal husbandry know far better how to care for animals than even the most well-intentioned urban activists.

Any ban on animals is one more way for the animal rights agenda-driven policy to meet their goal to create a no animal-ownership society. There is no "crisis" to solve. There is only propaganda intended to harm the rights of citizens and to destroy viable law- abiding businesses and the future of animal ownership, and it's up to ALL OF US to take a stand.

Please call and write to California Governor Jerry Brown and ask that he veto AB-485. Make certain that you select "AB00485\Pet Store Operators: Dogs, cats, and rabbits" in the subject line selection. 
Click here 

Thank you! 

Mindy Patterson

President

The Cavalry Group

Private Vigilante Squad Terrorizes Elderly Couple

On April 7^th in Kankakee County, a private animal rights vigilante group conducted a raid of an elderly couple, forcibly taking their business away from them.   The Animal Rescue Corps (ARC) is a private self-styled SWAT team run by high school dropout Scotlund Haisley who operates nationwide stealing animals from their legal owners and flipping them for resale.   Haisley who pays himself a yearly salary of $90,000+ out of ARC funds, claims he is simply an animal lover “saving” animals, but he has no legal authority for any of his actions.   In the Kankakee County raid, Haisley and his volunteer supporters accompanied two animal control officers to execute a search warrant on Adrian’s Puppy Paradise, owned by Adrian and Louise Gutierrez.   Animal rights activists claim the business is a puppy mill to justify their theft of private property.   The problem is, Kankakee County Animal Control Officers have no law enforcement authority to serve search warrants on licensed businesses either.    The search warrant and resulting raid was illegally carried out.   The resulting physical intimidation and coercion used to get this frail elderly couple to sign over their business to Haisley was also illegal. 

Fox 32 interviewed Haisley and quoted him as saying, “It is our belief she shouldn’t be in operation.  These conditions were extremely inhumane as well as illegal.” 

These activists would have you believe that the Gutierrez family deserve to lose their business in an armed SWAT style raid simply because they are opposed to dog breeding in America.   They throw around terms like puppy mill to sway your emotions and ignore the profit motive behind their actions.   ARC is run out of a UPS Mail Drop in Washington, DC, and cleared $465,388 in 2013, all tax free.   They do not run an animal shelter, have no law enforcement authority and founder Haisley has no documented education in animals.   What is illegal in this situation is ARC’s actions and the two animal control officers who participated in this SWAT raid of an elderly couple.

In most illegal raids like this across America, the animals are flipped and resold in less than a week while the thieves run marathon fundraising scams off the media coverage of a puppy mill bust.   Americans open their wallets and give donations of millions of dollars to animal rights groups believing they are helping to save a needy animal and the majority of which is simply pocketed by illiterate thugs like Haisley.

ARC is nothing more than a group of adrenaline junkies, led by a high school dropout, and backed by Hollywood money.   In fact, Haisley was sued over an illegal raid of a South Dakota dog breeder back in 2009.   In the court documents he admitted that he is in this business because it gets him better lap dances from strippers.   In another raid in 2011, Haisley stole an aviary of exotic birds in Tennessee and turned over some of the birds to one of his pet flipping resale partners called The Bailey Foundation of Maryland, run by Beth Lindenau.   Just over a year later, 40 dead animals were discovered in Lindenau’s home.   Haisley is on record saying that the bird raid in TN was justified because, he said, “These are the worst conditions for bird’s I’ve ever seen.”   He said nothing when his partner, Beth Lindenau was found to have killed some of them.  

Adrian’s Puppy Paradise was licensed and inspected by the Illinois Department of Agriculture, passing numerous government inspections over a fifteen year period.   If the Illinois Ag Department couldn’t find anything wrong with the Gutierrez business, then what right does Haisley have to run to the media and slander their reputations?  In the old days, Haisley would have been drawn and quartered as a thief.  Today he hangs out with Hollywood celebrities while his victims hide in their homes in fear.   

Katharine Dokken is a Public Affairs Specialist at The Cavalry Group and the  author of a new book, The Art of Terror:  Inside the Animal Rights Movement, available on Amazon. 

Follow Katharine and The Cavalry Group on Twitter:   @KatharineDokken  @TheCavalryGroup




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