"Rescue" buying dogs from auctions

[Anonymous]

Did any of you see this article in the Washington Post?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/investigations/dog-auction-rescue-groups-donations/

It doesn't surprise me, but I've known for a long time that there are a lot of shady rescues out there. What gets me is that these are the same people who scream and yell about how there is no such thing as an ethical breeder. It's appalling.

(And before you ask, I have had both purebred and rescue dogs, and will continue to have both. I don't breed myself but I certainly have no trouble finding an ethical breeder.)

[Anonymous]

How does this make the rescue "shady"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How does this make the rescue "shady"?

Simultaneously decrying puppy mills while purchasing from them and creating a market for puppy mills is absolutely shady.

[Anonymous]

There is a huge market for this in "horse rescue." Kill buyers set up a shell and post on the internet that THESE HORSES ARE GOING TO SLAUGHTER IN 3 DAYS UNLESS POEPLE DONATE AND BAIL THEM OUT. The bail price is substantially more than the kill buyers paid, hundreds of dollars more. People's heartstrings are pulled, but the next week there is another pen full or horses GOING TO BE SENT TO SLAUGHTER TUESDAY UNLESS BAILED.

I think they are mostly send to slaughter anyway. Who knows where they find hundreds of homes for lame, useless, half starved horses once they are "bailed." They probably get sent to a private farm for a few days then shipped to Mexico.

It is a known scam. The FBI recently raided one of the big operations (Another Chance 4 Horses). sleezy. I don't deal with "rescues."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a huge market for this in "horse rescue." Kill buyers set up a shell and post on the internet that THESE HORSES ARE GOING TO SLAUGHTER IN 3 DAYS UNLESS POEPLE DONATE AND BAIL THEM OUT. The bail price is substantially more than the kill buyers paid, hundreds of dollars more. People's heartstrings are pulled, but the next week there is another pen full or horses GOING TO BE SENT TO SLAUGHTER TUESDAY UNLESS BAILED.

I think they are mostly send to slaughter anyway. Who knows where they find hundreds of homes for lame, useless, half starved horses once they are "bailed." They probably get sent to a private farm for a few days then shipped to Mexico.

It is a known scam. The FBI recently raided one of the big operations (Another Chance 4 Horses). sleezy. I don't deal with "rescues."

That is disgusting!

I wonder how many people who adopt from *rescues" realize they are basically supporting puppy mills?

[Anonymous]

I think the recuse industry is a huge racket.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the recuse industry is a huge racket.

I am beginning.to think this myself.

[Anonymous]

I wonder if the real answer here is to only adopt from shelters, not from rescue organizations.

[Anonymous]

Or you could just ask the history of the dog. What a concept.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Or you could just ask the history of the dog. What a concept.

The doesn't work if they don't tell the truth, which at this point I think is common.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How does this make the rescue "shady"?

Note that some of them are also one- or two-person organizations at which they draw quite decent salaries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a huge market for this in "horse rescue." Kill buyers set up a shell and post on the internet that THESE HORSES ARE GOING TO SLAUGHTER IN 3 DAYS UNLESS POEPLE DONATE AND BAIL THEM OUT. The bail price is substantially more than the kill buyers paid, hundreds of dollars more. People's heartstrings are pulled, but the next week there is another pen full or horses GOING TO BE SENT TO SLAUGHTER TUESDAY UNLESS BAILED.

I think they are mostly send to slaughter anyway. Who knows where they find hundreds of homes for lame, useless, half starved horses once they are "bailed." They probably get sent to a private farm for a few days then shipped to Mexico.

It is a known scam. The FBI recently raided one of the big operations (Another Chance 4 Horses). sleezy. I don't deal with "rescues."

I could write a book on killpens, this is an issue near and dear to my heart. Now, I preface this with I am a long time horseman and advocate with decades of riding, showing and training behind me and I mostly know what I am doing with horses. I have a great veterinarian that I work with too. Most of the ninnies on those killpen sites are women who never got to have a pony when they were little girls and have absolutely NO idea what goes into rehabbing a horse, both time and money.

I have pulled horses from killpens; the pens are real, some are better than others, the horses that land in my pasture after I bail and ship them here are real. I usually deal with Kaufman in Texas ( I refuse to deal with Thompson or any of the Stanley brothers lots), mainly because I have a friend from my horse show days who goes into the pens 1 or 2 times a week and looks for good horses that are in a bad situation through no fault of their own, that can be bought and rehomed. The kill pens do send horses to slaughter, but those aren't the horses you see on their web pages. And the USDA highly regulates what horses are allowed to cross the border (no blind, pregnant, minis, lame, etc). The KB has found a better market through marketing to the rescue industry and bleeding heart women, creating a vicious circle.

Horses get sent to auction, it's a sad truth. They get sent because their owners die and relatives don't care, there is a divorce, the kids outgrow them, or go off to college, or someone loses their job and can't afford to keep them, or the horse develops a health issue that then erupts into a behavior issue and bam - off they go to the Friday night auction in Elkhart TX. Kill buyers are at auctions and that's where they get their horses. Usually, the first 10-50 horses at auction are bought for good prices by good buyers. Those buyers will pay and pick up their horses and then leave since they got what they came for. That usually leaves another 100-200 head of horses to be bought for pennies by the kill buyers who have contracts with the slaughter houses in Mexico and Canada. Most of those horses are good horses that weren't lucky enough to be ran through first.

Horses on the east coast are outrageously overpriced, it's much cheaper (if you know what you're doing and have a reliable quarantiner and shipper) to buy them in Texas or the midwest and have them shipped to you - which is what I did/do. We have a horse property so I have room to quarantine and assess them for rideability/resale in a round pen. My last pull is a registered Appendix gelding that is probably worth around 15K out here as a Dressage or Hunter/Jumper after I sort him out. I paid $800 +500 shipping, and then my time and some vet expenses. He has ulcers and I would bet money that is why he wound up at auction. He started bucking when saddled because his belly hurt and his owner dumped him at auction instead of calling a vet to see why he was cinchy. A month on ulcer guard (omeprazole) and horse metamucil and he will be right as rain again.

There are shady horse rescues out there - AC4H was one, and Hicaliber out in California is another one I would not touch with a ten foot pole.

[Anonymous]

I knew the rescue thing was a sham, think about it - how many cute fluffy dogs are there just sitting around to be rescued? If all the rescues were pitty mixes I could see that, but nowadays having a "rescue" dog is some kind of statement especially in progressive neighborhoods now that says you are PC, and just like most of that kind of thing my BS meter went off full blast.

[Anonymous]

This story was originally broken by Kim Kavin in 2015, when she did visited breeders, auctions, puppy mills, pet stores, rescues and shelters and wrote her book, The Dog Merchants.

It came out in paperback in 2017 and I highly recommend you read it. What I like is her very nuanced approach to all these stakeholders. No one comes out of it looking good, and definitely not some of these "rescuers" and some "non-profit" shelter/rescue organizations whose administrators are skilled PR managers and who command significant salaries.

Eye-opening. Mostly it makes me feel that stricter laws are necessary, and that instead of only punishing people who think little of animals, we should award certificates for ethical and health-focused breeders and support a database for those (already exists but has no government backing), to steer the public away from cruel mills.

[Anonymous]

I think one of our "rescue" dogs is from one of these shady operations. Designer mix puppy, only 10 weeks old, "rescued" from an Amish breeder. The issue wasn't on my radar at the time, but in hindsight it seems obvious. Our second rescue is from City Dogs and came with a good amount of information about her history.