Target: David Scott, Chairman of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee
Goal: Support more comprehensive, robust animal welfare inspections and enact tougher penalties for violations.
Hundreds of young dogs apparently suffered horrifically at an Iowa puppy mill. While several of the animals were eventually rescued, some reportedly died while waiting for their moment of salvation. The memory of one of these puppies, whom the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals named Goldie, lives on in legislation meant to safeguard other defenseless pups from meeting her tragic fate.
Goldie reportedly died at the puppy mill, with the eyes of her potential savior—the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)—on her. The USDA is required to inspect and license such businesses. The Iowa puppy mill where Goldie was kept had been licensed by the agency, and they took note of Goldie’s seemingly declining health during the course of inspections. They apparently did nothing to help the suffering animal, however. She eventually succumbed to weeks of alleged neglect and untenable living conditions.
A House of Representatives proposal known as Goldie’s Act would strengthen the inspection standards the USDA performs, would impose much heftier penalties for reported violations, and—most crucially—would require the agency to take into their custody animals they have suspicions are being mistreated. The USDA, under this law, would also have a duty to report with expedience suspected animal cruelty to appropriate law enforcement for criminal investigation.
Sign the petition below to demand Congress take up this vital piece of animal welfare legislation.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Representative Scott,
Few causes can unite Americans like the plight of abused and neglected animals. The U.S. government, recognizing the importance of protecting all living beings, has encoded the Animal Welfare Act, the PACT Act, and other essential measures into its rules of law. Tragically, the lack of a strong framework for some of these laws prevents them from realizing their full potential.
As part of implementing the Animal Welfare Act, the United States Department of Agriculture is supposed to conduct routine inspections on licensed animal caretakers. Too often, however, these inspections are sparse and shallow in their scope and depth. A young dog reportedly died at a licensed Iowa puppy mill (where hundreds of other dogs were later liberated), as the USDA evaluated this puppy’s deteriorating condition with no apparent action to save her. This horrible case inspired Goldie’s Act (named after the deceased pup), but currently this house resolution is languishing in limbo.
As the chairman of the Committee on Agriculture, please give this critical animal welfare reform the push it deserves and needs in Congress.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Catherin 888
Puppy Mills and kitty mills need to be shut down. They are dumps of abuse, illness and death!
I am in total agreement with you.
How could employees of our government take some animals and not others from a puppy mill. Especially since they saw one suffering and only a puppy. These supposedly rescue people have no love of animals, just a pay check.
Make tougher laws and hire people who care. A shameful unnecessary death.
ABSOLUTELY CORRECT DEE!!!! I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO SAY THE GOVERNMENT WORKERS WHO ARE IN CHARGE OF KEEPING ANY ANIMAL SAFE AND ABUSE FREE ARE TOTALLY USELESS AND ARE ONLY IN IT FOR THIER PAYCHECKS THIS CAN’T BE ANYMORE OBVIOUS!!!!!
Absolutely 100% how do they leave a puppy on deaths door and walk away without taking her immediately for medical care.
If they didn’t look after the animals before your visit, what would change after the visit.
They betrayed Goldie
Deee<i agree with you 100%.All of these lovely animals should have been rescued.Ban puppy and kitty mills globally.They are cruel and barbaric.
All those who ignored Goldie, and many others, need to pay the same price. They should be shoved in tiny cages (that they cannot escape from) and forgotten. The horrifying cruelty and indifference must end now….IMO
There should be a law which shuts a puppy mill down when abuse is seen. Why do paid inspectors let places do “business as usual” when the breeders don’t take care of their animals? Evidence shows that these people will NEVER change and that more animals will die under their so called “care”. Close them all and prosecute the heartless, money grubbing owners.
The USDA doesn’t care about any animal welfare. They think abuse is acceptable whether it is puppy mills or animal factories killing animals.
How could this department not do anything for this poor little dog. This is disgusting and disgraceful. Because this department did nothing to help these dogs they died never knowing what love and a life is all about. I am so sickened by this.
Absolutely 100% how do they leave a puppy on deaths door and walk away without taking her immediately for medical care.
If they didn’t look after the animals before your visit, what would change after the visit.
They betrayed Goldie
Shut these hell holes down!!!
EVERYONE AT EVERY STEP FAILED GOLDIE! NOW I WANT JUSTICE. SHUT THIS PLACE DOWN! NOW! ANIMAL ABUSE CHARGES AND MURDER 1 CHARGES WITH HEFTY FINES TO ALL THOSE THAT CAUSED THIS SEQUENCE OF EVENTS.
THE USDA DID NOT DO THEIR JOB TO SAVE GOLDIE AND PROBABLY OTHERS. FIRE THEM ALL AND CHARGE THEM. THEY DO NOT TAKE THEIR JOB SERIOUSLY…THEY CAUSE NEEDLESS AGONY AND PAIN TO GOLDIE AND OTHER LITTLE INNOCENT DOGS THAT WERE CRYING FOR HELP. THEY CANNOT HELP THEMSELVES …THEY WERE ALL IN MAN MADE PRISONS …..WHY WHY WHY DID YOU LEAVE HER…WHY DID YOU NOT DO YOUR JOB?
I HOPE THE TABLES TURN ON ALL THOSE WHO HAD A HAND IN THESE PUPPIES FATE!!!!
What’s the name if this puppy mill? We should spread the word on this horrible deadly place…so no one buys from them
The USDA is a useless agency that does little or nothing to protect animals. That poor little puppy might have had a chance if she would have been removed from the night mare she was living in. No one cared enough and that’s just shameful.
Sandra – You are spot on about the USDA being a useless agency. When they were deciding on whether or not to speed up the kill line for sows, they welcomed comments from the public. Their job is to protect animals in slaughterhouses, not concern themselves w/what the public thinks! The percentage of animals (of any type) that pass thru the kill line without first being stunned (because of the speed) is too high as it is. Total bullshit…
SHUT DOWN ALL PUPPY AND KITTEN MILLS NOW. The USDA never enforces laws after inspections by their own employees, and they grant license renewals to known abusers and offenders. They’re a USELESS AND SHAMEFUL agency. Something needs to be done, and fast.
SHAME on the USDA! Lazy sobs are complicit in torture and murder. Fire the lot of them and give their jobs to people who respect animals and will actually do their f***ing jobs!! Disgusting, beyond heartbreaking.
Goldie, as well as so many other animals, serve as perfect examples of the universal neglect and horrific conditions they are forced and allowed to endure, in their hellish existence in puppy mills! The owners and operators of puppy mills must be held accountable…if the USDA are not doing their job, they should be forced to, and I am sure that will lead to the complete and permanent shut down of these pits of hell, puppy mills!
MORONS WHO RUN THESE PUPPY MILLS AND THE MORONS AT THE FDA SHOULD BE PLACED IN THE THESE CONDITIONS AND LEFT TO DIE.
Puppy mills/breeders should be entirely outlawed until there are no more pets in any shelters. Then and only then should we slowly reopen. We did it for this covid bullshit, do it for a good reason this time.
Poor Goldie. That poor baby should have been rescued before she got sick. There is no excuse for allowing puppy and kitty mills to exist anywhere. These precious animals need to be rescued asap before more pass away.
Shut down all the puppy mills!!!
I TOTALLY AGREE WITH Maria Bertrand
“ EVERYONE AT EVERY STEP FAILED GOLDIE! NOW I WANT JUSTICE. SHUT THIS PLACE DOWN! NOW! ANIMAL ABUSE CHARGES AND MURDER 1 CHARGES WITH HEFTY FINES TO ALL THOSE THAT CAUSED THIS SEQUENCE OF EVENTS.
THE USDA DID NOT DO THEIR JOB TO SAVE GOLDIE AND PROBABLY OTHERS. FIRE THEM ALL AND CHARGE THEM. THEY DO NOT TAKE THEIR JOB SERIOUSLY…THEY CAUSE NEEDLESS AGONY AND PAIN TO GOLDIE AND OTHER LITTLE INNOCENT DOGS THAT WERE CRYING FOR HELP. THEY CANNOT HELP THEMSELVES …THEY WERE ALL IN MAN MADE PRISONS …..WHY WHY WHY DID YOU LEAVE HER…WHY DID YOU NOT DO YOUR JOB?
I HOPE THE TABLES TURN ON ALL THOSE WHO HAD A HAND IN THESE PUPPIES FATE!!!! “ ABUSERS DESERVE TO BE SEVERELY PUNISHED FOR THE MURDER OF PRECIOUS INNOCENT PUP !!!!
David – If we are going to allow puppy mills to operate legally in this country(which we should not, but that is another issue), then we need to make damn sure that the USDA is doing their job to protect the innocent animals caught up in this bullshit. The USDA authored the Animal Welfare Act (AFA), yet it has been my experience that they don’t give a shit about animals; they are more influenced by big businesses and their money. Those officials at the USDA who are responsible for animal welfare should be replaced with people that truly care for, and possess compassion towards, animals. The USDA is really the only protection they’ve got…