New Book Reveals Dog Shows Promote Dogs

By Jay Kitchener

Book Review:  The Dog Merchants by Kim Kavin

It takes an activist with a degree in journalism to inform us that dog shows promote dogs, and when two dog shows appear on national television, it’s the cause of all substandard dog breeding.  If Kavin really holds a degree in journalism, she might want to ask for her money back.  It’s not journalism to plagiarize the propaganda of controversial animal rights groups.  The source pages in her book are thick with references from the shady Humane Society of the United States.

A self-described expert on the luxury lifestyle of yachts, Kavin misses the boat when it comes to getting this story right.  Somebody throw her a life preserver.  She’s drowning in propaganda.

When a book claims to “expose” the commercial dog breeding and rescue industries, it gets my attention.  I give this activist credit for visiting the Hunte Corporation’s commercial kennels.  Unable to say anything bad about the Hunte facility, Kavin throws responsible journalism overboard and jumps the shark to claim that televised dog shows cause substandard dog breeding. 

The day before the book’s release, Kavin crowed on the Facebook page for her book, “My op-ed in today's Albany Times-Union, urging New York State lawmakers to go beyond passing ‘pet store puppy mill’ bans and also outright evict the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show--the type of event that the American Kennel Club itself calls a huge marketing asset for the business model of commercial-scale puppy farms nationwide.”

Calling for the censorship of an annual American television tradition is not journalism, it’s activism.

In the book Kavin flops around like a fish out of water.  She can’t even get a reference to Prohibition right.  She points out the obvious that government prohibition of alcohol created a black market for alcohol.  However, she fails to make the obvious connection that the kind of government prohibition she’s advocating for would create a black market for dogs.

The Prohibition Movement began as a ban on the sale of alcohol on Sundays only.  It seemed reasonable and most folks supported it.  But over time the movement grew and the mission expanded to become a complete ban on the manufacture, sale and consumption of alcohol in public and in private.  This is exactly where we are heading with the kind of government prohibition Kim Kavin is proposing on dog breeding. 

It wasn’t illegal to drink during prohibition, and it won’t be illegal to own a dog in Kavin’s world.  It will just be illegal to breed a dog in Kavin’s world. 

American’s didn’t stop drinking during Prohibition, they just drank different alcohol—bootleg alcohol.

Americans won’t stop owning dogs in Kavin’s world, but they won’t own purebred dogs. 

Led by the controversial Humane Society of the United States, activists in more than 120 communities across the United States have forced their propaganda on local governments and bullied them to mandate that you many not buy a puppy from a professional breeder in a legitimate pet store, and that you may only buy a puppy in the store supplied by a shelter or rescue organization.  The problem is that these shelter and rescue organizations no longer sell animals in need of homes from the local community.  These organizations now primarily sell animals imported from unknown sources in far-away states and foreign countries with no regulation and no oversight.

The bans on the sale of animals in legitimate pet shops from professional breeders presumes that those breeders are unprofessional and sub-standard.  If that’s true, why would Kavin mandate that your next puppy must come from a mysterious place that might be even worse?

These bans mandate that the public may only purchase animals in a pet shop supplied by shelters and rescue organizations.  Animals sold by shelters and rescue organizations are exempt from consumer protection laws that cover animals sold by breeders.  Why would Kavin remove these protections for consumers and animals?

Government is working hard with activists like Kavin to make sure your next puppy comes from mysterious sources. 

What do you call a book based on propaganda?  More propaganda.  The Dog Merchants by Kim Kavin is one activists’ opinion trying to pass as balanced journalism. 

Written by Jay Kitchener who is a leading advocate in the purebred dog industry. Jay has been on the forefront in preserving the rights of dog breeders and animal owners, and recently helped in turning back an effort to ban retail pet sales in Maine. Jay is now serving as the New England Regional Director for The Cavalry Group.

Taking a Step Down the Path to Extinction

The California State Assembly's Arts, Entertainment, Sports & Tourism Committee is scheduled to potentially outlaw elephant conservation efforts on July 14, 2015.  The bill before them, Senate Bill 716, would outlaw the use of a tool called an elephant guide.  Elephant guides are no different than leashes for dogs or reins for horses.    You can't walk an elephant in public without one. Animal rights activists call this simple tool, cruel.   They claim that these tools cause injuries, puncture wounds, abscesses and other types of trauma to an elephant.

"They are weapons with only one purpose:  to cause pain, suffering and fear in elephants."
 activist Nicole Pagquette, HSUS.

Funny enough, these activists from the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) have no injured elephants to show the public to prove their statements.  If these simple training tools cause puncture wounds, where are they?   The Ringling Bros Circus, in particular, is one of the most inspected shows around.   In 2012, during "one 11-week stay in California last summer, a total of more than 18 state, local and federal government agencies sent 44 different inspectors to look at Ringling’s pachyderms.  The 82 visits spanned more than 221 hours, or more than 3 hours for every day the circus was in the Golden State.”  At no time during those 221 hours of inspection did any inspector find an injured or "traumatized" elephant. 

Nicole Paquette went on to say that Ringling was stopping their elephant acts because of "the public's overwhelming opposition to the mistreatment of elephants for entertainment."   Again she lies.    Last year, HSUS lost a RICO Act lawsuit and paid Ringling $15.75 million to settle claims that activists had lied about how Ringling treats their elephants. You would think that activists from the HSUS would give up after being outed in court but here they are again lying to legislators and the public.

Earlier this year Richmond, Virginia banned elephants and other cities across America have listened to the same animal rights puppet masters.  These efforts are all part of the activists determination to remove all animals from our lives, one specie at a time.   Today its elephants, tomorrow its carriage horses, such as the long running campaign by New York City Mayor DeBlasio to ban carriage horses from Central Park, and tomorrow it will be your dog.   Ringling made a business decision to remove their elephant act because they have spent millions defending their reputation, wining, and the activists just continue to lie. 

Activists scream that elephants belong in the wild but in the wild they are dying in large numbers.   The vast majority of elephants in America today are domestically born.   They were born in captivity.  they are not 'wild' animals.   Animal rights activities want to remove them from our lives.  Today it's the circus, tomorrow they will disappear from our zoos and sanctuaries.   Activists are already attacking zoos nationwide and forcing the closure of many elephant exhibits.    Just up the road from Richmond, the Virginia Zoo recently announced that they are closing their elephant exhibit and getting rid of two elderly elephants under pressure from the animal rights infiltrated Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).    Just a few months ago, the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, Washington got rid of their elephants under continuous pressure from activists.  Once elephants are no longer in the public eye, people will forget about them.   In today's electronic world, people have notoriously short attention spans.   Once out of sight, will anyone care that they are quickly becoming extinct in the wild?  A world without elephants, what a sad world that is. 

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

Wayne's World: HSUS Liars, Cheaters, and Thieves

The assault against dog breeders continues as Wayne Pacelle releases his continuation of propaganda and lies in his most recent blog entitled, “Puppy Mills & 101 Damnations.” 

Once again, Pacelle turns to the disturbing tactic of singling out dog breeders and publishing their names, their addresses, and breeding establishments all obtained from the now anti-animal agriculture agency of USDA who willingly relinquished the private information and inspection photos via Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The photos given to HSUS for their report are taken out of context in order to support exaggerated claims of abuse to coerce breeders to close up their breeding operations. 

Pacelle and HSUS lead the way in betraying well-intended Americans into believing that their focus is on the unscrupulous dog breeders, when the opposite is true.  HSUS and their ideology opposes animal breeding of any kind and especially those who do so for profit.  

So, when Pacelle says that they take their job of eliminating “puppy mills” seriously what he really means is that they want to eliminate ALL dog breeders including the ones who follow the law. 

Pacelle’s true agenda is illustrated in an HSUS tweet on Twitter from March of 2013 where HSUS gives the HSUS definition of a "puppy mill:" 

Furthermore, HSUS has stated on numerous occasions that they do not believe that pure bred dogs should exist, rather they promote legislation and regulatory reform that would make pure bred dogs prohibitively expensive, incentivizing consumers to “adopt.”  The HSUS definition of adoption really means that the consumer will purchase their new pet for $350-$500 from a shelter instead of a licensed breeder.   So these retail shelters are now the competition for pure bred dog breeders, and HSUS, as well as government at the local, state and federal levels, are doing everything in their power to over-regulate and eliminate the dog breeders.

The most insidious way in which this strategy has taken form can be found in the subversive way that organizations such as HSUS pressure, infiltrate, and influence government bureaucracies like the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).  By lobbying for the implementation of obscure rules such as the recently implemented “Retail Pet Rule” – these new regulations and rules pose disastrous problems for breeders across the country without consumers ever becoming aware of the situation.   

Make no mistake, HSUS is a multi-million dollar animal rights extremist organization which raises money to promote increased regulation on animal ownership and enterprise.  They promote government regulations that handcuff breeders, while rescues and shelters are exempt from abiding by the same rules.  That's not increasing animal welfare standards, it is purely crony capitalism favoring one group, while punishing another. 

The Cavalry Group favors a free market that allows consumers to chose among a wide spectrum of options, where ALL pet providers have to play by the same rules.  Unfortunately, Wayne Pacelle and everyone else at HSUS will lie, cheat, and steal to get their way as evidenced by another slanderous piece of propaganda intended to raise money to perpetuate the HSUS agenda.

Mindy Patterson is the president of The Cavalry Group, a member based company protecting and defending the Constitutional and private property rights of law abiding animal owners, animal-related business, hunters, and agriculture concerns legally nationwide.

REGULATORY ASSAULT: THE BRAKKE'S FIGHT TO KEEP THEIR FARM

The effect of government overreach can, at times, be hidden in the form of diminished opportunity or higher prices.  In the case of the deer-breeding industry, the effects are much more recognizable and in some cases, people and their families are left completely devastated, often with no recourse. Case in point:

Tom and Rhonda Brakke are your typical American farmers.  It has often been said that happiness is finding something you love – then figuring out a way to do it for a living. Tom and Rhonda did just that and were on their way to creating a business around one of their favorite hobbies: deer hunting.  The Brakkes acquired some land and began to breed and raise deer.  Upon maturation, the Brakkes would release the deer on a large preserve in order to allow hunters to enjoy the sport in a controlled and private environment.

Their small venture was a great success as they worked hard and followed their pursuit of happiness. Then – as often happens whenever achievement in the private sector develops – the government showed up to help:

In 2012, inspired by a Humane Society of the United States scare campaign, the USDA adopted a new set of rules to address Chronic Wasting Disease, a rare ailment that affects deer and other cervids. This uncommon disorder is not communicable to humans or other animals and displays few symptoms until the death of the deer many years after infection.  In other words, CWD is not a threat at all, but rather, the Restless Leg Syndrome of the deer world, a contrived crisis designed by activists to make captive breeding and hunting preserves nearly impossible to operate.

The same month that the USDA released their new CWD rule, the Brakkes were informed that one of the deer in their herd of nearly 700 had tested positive for CWD.  The government offered no evidence that their test was not a false positive, nor did they allow for any additional tests by a third party.  The Brakkes were forced to take the government at their word.  The Center for Disease Control estimates the rate of CWD infection among deer nationally to be at about 2%, other sources say 1% or less.  Still, in accordance with the new USDA guidelines, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources ordered the

Brakkes to eradicate 200 deer on their hunting ranch, despite their having an infection rate of only 1/7th of a percent.  They were then ordered to erect an electric fence around all of their property, test all their remaining animals, and dig up and rebury the top soil on several parts of their land. In addition, under the direction of the USDA, the State of Iowa quarantined and required continued testing of the remaining 500 deer in their herd.  The quarantine is in effect until 2018, and if they find another positive, the clock will reset for another five-year quarantine. In other words, game over.

Don’t worry, the Brakkes are still required to spend roughly $3,000 weekly to feed the remaining 500 deer on their property without any means of profiting from the livestock. They have spent a small fortune in a futile attempt to comply with the new USDA regulations, all while the government has put them out of business. It wasn’t supposed to be this way.

The truth is that this has nothing to do with the Brakkes, their small business, their hard-earned money, or even the health of deer or any other animal. This is about a government agency permeated by left-wing activists and operated as an arm of the animal rights extremist movement. The USDA is using a non-problem to create a non-crisis to regulate captive hunts out of existence, because animal rights activists don’t like them. By the USDA and the Center for Disease Control’s own admission they don’t even know how CWD is spread.  They offer no evidence there was a potential emergency with the Brakkes' operation – yet the jack-boots marched in and declared the place to be shut down. End of story. No recourse.

Directors, spokespersons, Department heads in the Obama Administration, and the President himself may smile and say that new gun restriction proposals have nothing to do with Americans right to hunt, but hunters should recognize that they are aggressively getting it done another way. Beware of the new changes in the name of “animal care” that occur behind the scenes or else one day we may wake up in a world where hunting is a thing of the past.

Author, Phil Christofanelli is the Director of Public Affairs for The Cavalry Group, a member based company protecting and defending the Constitutional and private property rights of law abiding animal owners, animal-related business, hunters, and agriculture concerns legally nationwide.

Read this article on JoeForAmerica.com

NEVER LET A FAUX-CRISIS GO TO WASTE

Many of those who donate to the Humane Society of the United States are unaware of the fact that HSUS is one of the greatest foes to fishing and hunting in the country.  Wayne Pacelle, President of HSUS, on numerous occasions has revealed his personal disdain for the American sport.  Pacelle was once quoted by the AP saying, “If we could shut down all sport hunting in a moment, we would.”  To date, HSUS has spearheaded upwards of 25 anti-hunting ballot initiatives across the country.  Like many Fabian left-wing groups, HSUS takes an incremental approach in making hunting progressively more difficult through additional regulation of the sport at the ballot box and in state legislatures.

One of the main targets is what HSUS refers to as canned hunts.  These hunts are of wildlife bred in captivity and released over a large, enclosed area for hunting.  HSUS believes that it is “cruel” to breed animals for the purpose of hunting, but these hunting areas have provided business opportunities to many struggling, rural Americans and have also allowed hunters to enjoy the sport in a controlled and safe environment.  In fact, many of the species bred in captivity would have long since gone extinct, but for the cultivation of these businesses.  For radical animal rights activists, however, the needs of animals always outweigh the needs of humans.

As Rahm Emanuel aptly taught us, it is critical to create a crisis in order to quickly implement one’s agenda.  HSUS seems to have found their silver bullet against captive hunting in an obscure ailment known as “Chronic Wasting Disease,” or CWD.  CWD is a progressive disease which in rare occasions afflicts older cervids (read: deer) and results, over time, in brain lesions and ultimately, death.  According to the Center for Disease Control, there is no evidence that CWD poses any threat to humans who consume a deer with the disease, nor is there any way the disease could spread to domestic livestock.  Infection rates among your average white-tailed deer linger at less than 1%.  Infected deer can live quite a long time with the disease, produce healthy fawns, and remain nearly symptom free until their deaths.

By now you might be thinking: What’s the big deal?  However, to HSUS, and lately the USDA, CWD is a massive crisis crying out for a swift passage of numerous regulations on captive hunting farmers.  According to HSUS’s website, in order to address the CWD crisis, states must ban all game farms and captive hunting, as well as end the transportation of any deer across state lines, a move which would effectively decimate the ability of deer farmers to make money and to breed genetically diversified livestock.

Unsurprisingly, it is not difficult to determine the source of the USDA’s newfound obsession with CWD.  The head of the CWD Program at the USDA is none other than Dr. Patrice Klein.  Dr. Klein is a former employee of the Humane Society of the United States where she served as a Wildlife Veterinarian and Director.

Just last year, the USDA took HSUS’ policy recommendations to heart.  In their new CWD Program Standards manual, they proclaim that the most reasonable course to be taken once a deer on a captive farm tests positive is complete eradication of the entire herd.  These irradiations are done entirely at the owner’s expense and leave little avenue for appeal to the farmer.  The USDA also has begun to test the waters for extensive regulation of the transportation of cervids across state lines with a new “voluntary” policy which sets the guidelines under which interstate trafficking of deer can occur.  The USDA admits that it has no idea how CWD is spread, yet it still holds that entire herds should be destroyed if even one deer develops this disease which occurs naturally and does not in any way affect humans!

While CWD may pose some threat to cervid species and may be worthy of study, analysis, and careful monitoring, the disease should definitely not be used as an excuse to destroy hunting and farming in accordance with the extreme agenda of a radical few.  In the rare cases of CWD infected, deer farmers have shown great success at controlling the disease within their herds.  Fear mongering from HSUS has nonetheless resulted in gross overreactions that have completely destroyed some American farms.  Bottom line: HSUS is out to destroy people’s way of life, not help animals. They are an extremist, radical, corrupt group bent on taking away the rights of law abiding citizens through deceit, manipulation, and intimidation.

Author, Phil Christofanelli is the Director of Public Affairs for The Cavalry Group, a member based company protecting and defending the Constitutional and private property rights of law abiding animal owners, animal-related business, hunters, and agriculture concerns legally nationwide.

Read this article on JoeForAmerica.com

Tyson Foods Lets the Fox in the Henhouse

The Cavalry Group takes a hard line in protecting its members' Constitutional rights to private property against the onslaught of the animal rights agenda.  In doing so, we often say privately to our members and publicly when speaking at agriculture and liberty events, "Never collaborate with those who seek your demise."

Tyson Foods failed that Creed with the announcement of their newly formed Animal Well-Being Advisory Panel.  Shocked were we to learn that they invited Miyun Park, executive director of Global Animal Partnership to be a member of this board.

As a quick reminder, Wayne Pacelle is on the board of Global Animal Partnership.  And let's not forget that Global Animal Partnership's agenda is the elimination of animal agriculture and furthering global governance through the implementation of Agenda 21.

Our friend at iloveag further describes Tyson's tragic announcement quite well in this excellent article:

Tyson Confirms Fears: Fox IS in Henhouse
by iloveag

In “Tyson Foods Announces A Win For Wayne Pacelle” and ”Dancing With The Devil” I warned about Tyson Foods’ futile attempt to placate animal rights activists.

Tyson finally announced the 13-person advisory panel that will develop standards for their Farm Check audit program.

Members of the panel include:

• Ryan Best, 2011-2012 president, Future Farmers of America
• Anne Burkholder, cattle feedlot owner
• Ed Cooney, executive director of the Congressional Hunger Center
• Gail Golab, Ph.D., DVM, director of American Veterinary Medical Association’s Animal Welfare Division
• Temple Grandin, Ph.D., professor of animal science, Colorado State University
• Karl Guggenmos, dean of culinary education, Johnson & Wales University
• Tim Loula, DVM, co-founder and co-owner of Swine Vet Center in St. Peter, Minnesota
• Miyun Park, executive director, Global Animal Partnership
• Ashley Peterson, Ph.D., vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs, National Chicken Council
• Richard Raymond, M.D., former U.S. Department of Agriculture Undersecretary for Food Safety
• Janeen Salak-Johnson, Ph.D., associate professor in Animal Sciences, University of Illinois
• Janice Swanson, Ph.D., chair and professor, Animal Behavior and Welfare, Michigan State University
• Bruce Webster, Ph.D., professor of poultry science, University of Georgia

The fact that animal rights and vegan activist and former HSUS Vice President Miyun Park is on the panel should give every producer heart palpitations.

Continue reading...

The Trojan Horse that is Agenda 21

One of the most critical of America’s Founding principles is private property.  Without our right to private property in the United States, we have nothing. I believe our current administration and their socialistic views seek to destroy private property in America.  And like anyone seeking to destroy something precious, the attack will come in a disguise and chip away incrementally.  A steady push has already been underway to remove the free market system from America, which rewards success, and to move us toward Socialism, which punishes success, redistributes wealth, and encourages “collective ownership” while promoting the belief of  “global dominion.” 

The Obama administration will be implementing 68 new regulations per day during the first 90 days in 2013. Many of these onerous regulatory reforms will be directed at small business and agriculture.

How do you destroy agriculture, including the pet industry, in America? 

Answer: Regulate them out of business:

•      Raise the cost of growing our food and breeding animals.
•      Which reduces the total production and availability of food and animals.
•      Thereby, weakening the economic structure of agribusiness and the pet industry.

And, while this sounds like fiction, it is very real and happening throughout America courtesy of the United Nations action plan called, Agenda 21. 

Agenda 21 was introduced at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro organized by the United Nations.  The Earth Summit brought together environmental activists from around the world to deal with the supposed threat from global warming.

UN Agenda 21 comes to us cloaked in the disguise behind the green movement and environmentalism seeking to promote “sustainable” development, which is publicized as conserving an ecological balance by avoiding the depletion of natural resources.  Sounds benign, doesn’t it?  But when you pull back the curtain, Agenda 21 is eating away at America’s sovereignty bit by bit, like a cancer. Ultimately destroying Americans’ right to private property and moving us toward global governance and a totalitarian state.

Here is just a short list of things that Agenda 21 considers unsustainable: Grazing livestock, meat consumption, plowing of soil, building fences, paved roads, logging and timber, dams and reservoirs. 

It is not a coincidence that the man who authored Agenda 21, Maurice Strong, sat on the board of the Humane Society of the United States until 2010. If you put some of the recent laws and regulatory reforms that have been placed on licensed dog breeders into the perspective of Agenda 21, one begins to see the alarming trend and connect the dots: Limitation of the number of animals you can own, mandatory spay and neuter, unfettered access to outdoors, temperature control, guardianship laws for pets.

Agenda 21 should be a bi-partisan concern. We’re all being called to duty to protect our nation’s sovereignty. If you’re opposed to being subjected to UN governance and International Law, first you must become more informed about Agenda 21.  I encourage you to go directly to the UN website to read the Agenda 21 action plan and learn more about it. UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Division for Sustainable Development. Website address: http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/agenda21/

Secondly, become involved at the local level with your city and county councils and local/state school boards. This is where Agenda 21 is being implemented. UN Agenda 21 is already being pushed in our schools through social studies, and implemented through local jurisdiction in the form of city ordinances, changes in zoning under the terms sustainable development, smart growth, sustainable farming, multi-use trails, green building, open space, conservations easements, and more. Inform and educate yourself and your neighbors.

While we have big challenges ahead, and a very steep hill to climb, we must stay vigilant and keep up our fight for freedom. No one ever said living in a free republic would be easy, and this is a time that will test our mettle.

What Ronald Reagan said in 1964 applies today, “Are you willing to spend time studying the issues, making yourself aware, and then conveying that information to family and friends?”  And he added, “If some among you fear taking a stand because you are afraid of reprisals from customers, clients, or even government, recognize that you are just feeding the crocodile hoping he'll eat you last.”

Like those who have fought for freedom before us, it is now our time to protect the flame of liberty and not allow it to be extinguished.  The serpent of tyranny rises again, this time as Agenda 21 to threaten American freedom and sovereignty.  We must remain vigilant.

Mindy Patterson is president and co-founder of The Cavalry Group a member based company protecting and defending the Constitutional and private property rights of law abiding animal owners, animal-related businesses, sportsmen, hunters, and agriculture concerns nationwide. http://www.thecavalrygroup.com