I just received this heartfelt letter from Barbara Davis, of Golden Retriever Club of Greater Los Angeles Rescue.
This past fall, our organization was asked to participate in a project that would change many of our lives forever. We were contacted by Bob Bornstein, president of Sooner Golden Retriever Rescue in Oklahoma City to tell us about a project they had undertaken called “Labor of Love 07”. The project’s aim was to raise funds to purchase Golden Retrievers being offered for sale at livestock auctions by Midwest puppy mills that were going out of business. If these dogs were not redeemed by the rescue community, they would be purchased by other puppy mills where their lifecycle of breeding litter after litter of pet store puppies would considered until they were no longer useful to their ‘millers’. To make a long story short, the courageous folks with Sooner Rescue had been successful in raising thousands of dollars to purchase these dogs, rehabilitate them and find them loving homes, or other rescues to take them on. Sooner had already redeemed over 30 dogs by then.
Knowing there were more auctions coming up and that their ‘puppy mill rescue team’ coffers were depleted, Bob was looking for help from other rescues who might have room to take on a few of these cases. We were pleased to help work with them in an emergency fund-raising effort to raise the nearly $7000 that was needed to buy the dogs coming up for auction (they were successful in getting them all!), and then worked with the SGRR folks to arrange for the vetting, boarding and eventual transport of 7 of those dogs out here to southern California, where we’ve already placed 3 and are working on rehab and placement for the other 4.
This has been a tremendously uplifting and rewarding experience for all involved, and we’re looking forward to our next opportunity to help out, which may come ‘sooner’ than we expected. SGRR recently received notification that another mill is going out of business and will be offering their entire stock for auction, including 15 Goldens and 2 golden-doodles. Of course, with the puppy mill rescue team’s bank account depleted from the last auction, our first concern is being able to raise enough money to make sure we can purchase all these dogs and end their lifetime of misery. We’re currently working to identify what rescues will be receiving the latest puppy mill refugees, but of course, we need to make sure we have the resources to get them out.
So, of course, I’m coming to you to see if you’d be willing to appeal to the Golden lovers on your list and your site to help us with this amazing work. Given the numbers involved (15-17 dogs at one auction, average cost about $800 per dog), it’s a bit discouraging to think we might not have what we need to get all these dogs out to safety and a better life.
Several Golden Retriever rescues in the Midwest and the South have joined forces to create Labor of Love ‘07, an effort to reclaim Golden Retrievers who have been used and neglected in puppy mills.
(Please do visit the Labor of Love ‘07 page for a very special Golden photo history of the work that has been done. It is inspiring to say the least.)
Frequently, millers offer ‘bred out’ dogs to rescue, and other ‘breedable’ dogs at auction and rescue wants to do everything it can to purchase those dogs so they can spend the rest of their lives with loving families. This summer, a number of these puppy factories have gone out of business, and have been offering their ‘used dogs’ at auctions. If not purchased by the rescue community, these dogs will go to other puppy mills to continue their lives of suffering in small cages, breeding litter after litter. The “Labor of Love ‘07” team has already liberated more than 30 dogs.
The Puppy Mill Rescue Team continues to track mill closures and auctions and donations are needed to insure the rescue of Golden Retrievers on the auction block. Please consider a donation to the ongoing efforts of the Puppy Mill Rescue Team.
Donations can be mailed to: Sooner Golden Retriever Rescue, Att: Puppy Mill Rescue Team, P.O. Box 57139, Oklahoma City, OK 73157-7139. Or, you can easily and quickly click here to donate via Paypal.
We did, and boy did it feel good.
