This email was sent to me, from an organization thatI belong to. They were the guys responsible for rescuing all the Katrina pets and reuniting them with their owner or finding them new homes.
Take a look at it, I'm encouraging everyone to sign the petition.
I don't know if anyone ever seen the documentary "Dealing Dogs" on HBO but its heart breaking...These people shouldnt be allowed anywhere near anything living........

Dear Best Friends Members,

Please forward this message to three friends, and join the Best Friends Network: http://network.bestfriends.org/ where communities such as the following on puppy mills have the breaking news and ways to help: http://network.bestfriends.org/truth/news/

Tragically, on March 21, of this year 192 dogs and puppies suffocated and burned to death in a puppy mill known as Dogwood Kennels that is owned by the Schmucker family. This incident appears to have occurred because Dogwood Kennels used a kerosene lantern. Their puppy mill has no electricity. Less than a year before this very sad event, dozens of dogs and puppies died at the same puppy mill allegedly from drinking unsanitary water given to them.

Dogwood Kennels has continued to operate the puppy mill and it turns out, they never obtained a conditional use permit from the county to operate a puppy mill. They have been operating all this time without a permit. But they have not stopped their illegal operation. Instead, they now have applied for a conditional use permit from Bland County, Virginia where they are located.

If the county gives them a permit, hundreds more dogs will be at risk. You can help stop this!

On June 4, 2007 there will be a hearing where the public will be invited to speak and comment on an application by the Schmucker family for a Conditional Use Permit to operate Dogwood Kennels. Dogwood Kennels breeds and raises at least 15 different breeds of dogs and sell to brokers and pet stores in New York, Beckley, West Virginia and Washington, D.C.

Best Friends calls on you to attend this hearing located at the Bland County School Board Offices at 361 Bears Trl. Bastian, Va 24314at 7:00 p.m. EST. If you cannot attend, please send letters, faxes or emails (letters or faxes are best) to the Bland County officials listed below. Let the County Administrator, Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors know they should deny this permit. Don’t wait; write or call now! Please be polite!

Officials to contact:
Jonathan Sweet
County Administrator
P.O. Box 510
Bland, VA 24315
telephone 276.688.4622
toll free 800.519.3468
fax 276.688.9758
jsweet.bland.co@state.va.us

Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors
County of Bland
P.O. Box 510
Bland, VA 24315
276.688.4622 phone
276.688.9758 fax
1supervisor.bland.co@state.va.us email


Tell these officials you are concerned about:

• Dogwood Kennels has announced they may dispose of dog waste by putting it on farmers’ crops. They plan to douse it first with lime and mix it with “redworms”. Dog feces contain worms that can be transmitted to humans and cause blindness and also affect other tissues and organs. The University of Minnesota Extension Service and University of Wisconsin veterinarians and soil scientists have described use of dog feces for fertilizer as “definitely a potential human health hazard”.

• It is not known exactly how Dogwood Kennels will otherwise dispose of waste from so many dogs or the possible impact there may be on the environment including water sources.

• There has been no environmental assessment of having so many dogs living in primitive conditions with no electricity or running water. Dogs have already died both because of an outdated heating source, kerosene lamps, and also apparently unsanitary water.

• At the time of the fire there was no fire protection at all at the facility that housed the dogs; there is no evidence Dogwood Kennels has fire protection now.

• Dogwood Kennels has demonstrated at the very least their gross irresponsibility and disregard for the law in operating this puppy mill. Even now, they are operating without a permit at all.

• The puppy mill is a nuisance and a real hazard to neighbors and other citizens of the county.

• Many puppy mill dogs are inbred and have diseases, illnesses, birth defects and behavior problems. It is such a problem that many states have passed “puppy lemon laws” to protect purchasers of dogs that have been inbred, not socialized and poorly cared for at puppy mills. Many times purchasers have found themselves with thousands of dollars in vet bills because they bought a dog at a pet store. Most pet stores get their dogs from puppy mills.

• Many puppy mill dogs will end up in public shelters, adding to the cost for animal control for the county. There are estimates that 25-30% of shelter animals are purebreds that came from puppy mills.

• This is not the kind of business Bland County should allow.

• For What the Public Show Know About Puppy Mills please click here

In addition to contacting local Bland County officials, you can help in other ways. Encourage everyone you know and in your communities to adopt not buy dogs and other pets. Dogs at this facility and others like it sell puppies exclusively to pet stores. Never purchase a pet from a store or over the Internet.

Click here to sign a petition to protest the issuance of a permit to the Schmuckers or Dogwood Kennels to allow them to continue to operate a puppy mill. http://www.petitiononline.com/nopupmll/petition.html

Tell everyone you know to sign the petition!

Tell everyone you know about the June 4, 2007 hearing and encourage them to attend or contact the County Administrator, Bland County Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors.

Thank you for any support you may be able to provide and for being a part of the Network!

Best regards,
The Best Friends Network Team
Best Friends Animal Society
5001 Angel Canyon Road
Kanab, Utah 84741
http://network.bestfriends.org/

__________________
Everyday I strive to be the person my dog thinks I am.