Smugglers transport sick puppies to U.S.
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/local/9243105.ht...
July 26, 2004
RICHARD MAROSI
SAN DIEGO - Smugglers are flooding the Southern California pet market with disease-ridden puppies from Mexico, prompting law enforcement crackdowns,
raising public health concerns, and breaking the hearts of owners who watch their dogs die, often within hours of buying them.
Animal control officials estimate that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of puppies have died since an underground market, stretching from puppy mills in
Mexico to street corners in San Diego and Los Angeles, was uncovered last year.
The puppies - usually small breeds such as poodles, pugs and Chihuahuas - are typically sold through newspaper ads to bargain-seeking buyers who pay
cash. The dogs, bundled in hand crates, appear healthy.
But some suffer from parvovirus, distemper, scabies and other hard-to-detect ailments. Separated from their mothers too early, some die from
starvation because they are so young they lack teeth to chew food. Very young dogs also often fall prey to diseases because their immune systems are
not fully developed.
The "puppy conspiracy," as some call it, first came to authorities' attention last year when complaints started flooding in to law enforcement
agencies. Officials in the tight-knit community of animal control agencies began hearing similar stories.
After answering ads hawking puppies in newspapers, buyers meet sellers in out-of-the-way public places. The sellers, carrying the puppies in crates,
accept only cash.
Excitement often turns to grief as buyers watch their puppies slow with sickness. Telephone calls to the sellers go unanswered. The sellers, who
frequently use disposable cellular telephones, disappear.
U.S. Customs agents have added sick puppies to their list of contraband items for which they search vehicles crossing the border from Mexico.
Agents have found puppies overstuffed in packing crates and hidden away in spare-tire wheel wells. If puppies appear distressed, agents give them to
animal welfare agencies. Drug-sniffing dogs sometimes alert agents to their sick canine cousins.
"We're big fans of dogs, and we hate to see sickly, very young pups crammed into little spaces," said Vince Bond, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and
Border Protection.
Since April, about 50 people trying to bring in puppies have been stopped. Many are let through if they have a few dogs and carry the proper
paperwork, which includes proof of vaccination. But others are turned back. Last weekend , a man from Tijuana was caught trying to bring in 11 puppies
at 4:30 a.m. They were packed in two crates and covered under clothing. He said he planned to give them to relatives. Instead, the puppies were given
to the San Diego Humane Society, where six have died of parvo-related illnesses. The man was cited and fined $2,200. "It's awful that people do this,"
said Vanessa Frazier, an animal-care attendant, as she cradled a nearly motionless, brown-haired c-cker spaniel in the agency's dog isolation room. In
the next cage, four Maltese puppies - their grimy hair shaved clean - trotted about and seemed to be recovering. The c-cker spaniel's prospects,
however, appeared bleak.
"I don't think he's going to make it."
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