Undercover Investigation: Stressed, Cruelly-Treated Animals Trapped in Mall “Petting Zoos” Including Woodridge, NJ

SeaQuest is the source of hundreds of animal abuse complaints

Keeping wild animals in small, bare cages inside a retail shopping mall is absurd and abhorrently cruel. Yet this is the business model of SeaQuest, a for-profit chain of shopping mall-based wild animal petting zoos that has been plagued with controversies and cited by the U.S. Department of Agriculture more than 110 times for violations of the Animal Welfare Act.  

SeaQuest peddles public interactions with wild animals such as sloths, sugar gliders, capybaras, coatimundis, kinkajous, wallabies and Bengal cats, as well as various fish, reptiles and birds. Customers grab, handle, pet and poke at these animals intermittently all day long. The animals have no access to sunlight or fresh air, no means to escape the loud, chaotic environment created by scores of adults and children coming in and out of SeaQuest facilities throughout the day, and no space or natural habitat in which to express their natural behaviors.  

Such an environment—at SeaQuest and other facilities like it—doesn’t teach people to respect and admire animals. It teaches them that wild animals are playthings to be toyed with for amusement. The Humane Society of the United States sent an undercover investigator to two SeaQuest locations to shine a spotlight on this cruelty and strengthen our broader push for an end to it. 

There is a an abusive #SeaQuest “zoo” in #Woodridge, New Jersey in addition to other locales 

Local animal activists are fighting to have this abomination CLOSED. We wish them luck!

PIXIES AND PAWS “RESCUE” IS JUST AN EXTENSION OF CRUEL PUPPY MILLS

Pixies & Paws, which sells animals from cruel breeders

FROM NEWS 12 NJ AND LONG ISLAND

Documents provided to Kane In Your Corner News 12 Investigative unit show Pixies and Paws, a self-proclaimed “animal rescue” based in New Jersey and serving the tristate area, purchased more than 160 dogs from commercial breeders in Ohio. The purchases were made during a three-month period alone. It’s an arrangement some consumer groups say means Pixies and Paws is acting less like a rescue and more like an online pet store.
In an investigation in May, Kane In Your Corner spoke to Jonisha Lewis about her experience adopting a dog from Pixies and Paws. She said the dog had such significant health problems that her veterinarian deemed it “unfit for sale”. “My son was crying,” Lewis said. “And he was just like, ‘Why? Why Is this happening? Like, why is he sick’?” Then there was the adoption fee – a whopping $1,500… which at first, Pixies and Paws refused to refund, although it eventually relented after Kane In Your Corner began investigating.
PLEASE DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE ADOPTING. NO REPUTABLE SHELTER OR RESCUE WOULD ASK FOR $1500, FOR STARTERS!

New Jersey Politicians Kill Another Good Animal Shelter – and Lots of Animals

MOST ANIMAL SHELTERS IN THIS COUNTRY ARE PART OF A BROKEN SYSTEM, ONE THAT HURTS INNOCENT, HOMELESS ANIMALS MOST OF ALL. BUT IT ALSO HARMS HEROIC STAFF AND VOLUNTEERS.

NEW JERSEY IS ONE OF THE WORST OFFENDERS.

Last year, the genius politicians of JerseyCity suddenly ended the contract with @LibertyHumaneSociety, and its team that many other shelters and rescues have very happily worked with for years. Still, the hiring of a new director, staff, and new procedures designed for the animals’ benefit heralded the possibility that things would actually work out. It wasn’t to be. When a dog attacked and seriously injured the new boss, bureaucrats who know nothing about a shelter or animal welfare, and even less about leadership and common decency emerged, once again throwing a promising start into turmoil.

https://jcitytimes.com/animal-shelter-morale-sinks-after-manager-is-bitten-hospitalized-fired/

Help Get Justice for Starved Doggy!

Sweet Elmer, Starved to Death in Tennessee

In February of this year, a Selmer City, TN woman brought a horribly emaciated dog to a rescue group, claiming that the dog had been abandoned at her house. The rescue immediately rushed the dog, which they renamed Elmer, to an emergency veterinary clinic.  Sadly, despite all their efforts, this poor, sweet Great Dane died.

The Guardians of Rescue sent Elmer’s remains to a pathology lab to determine an exact cause of death. The results of Elmer’s necropsy were shocking and heartbreaking. While Elmer suffered from intestinal parasites and heartworm disease, the official cause of death was starvation–a painful, excruciating way to die. It was later determined that Elmer had, in fact, been living with this terribly cruel and heartless woman since 2020.

The Guardians of Rescue’s investigation showed that this lady was the owner of Elmer, and responsible for his gruesome death; in response, the Selmer City Police Department charged her with one count of animal cruelty and ordered her to rehome any animals in her custody.  Based on her history of breeding Great Danes, the presence of a heavy intestinal parasite load, heartworm disease and the intestinal obstruction that caused Elmer to die a slow, agonizing death by starvation, we believe she should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

No matter where you live or whether or not you own a pet, we ask and encourage you to SIGN THE PETITION TO GET JUSTICE FOR ELMER – PLEASE!  The only deterrent we have to these horrible, cruel crimes is to hold the criminals accountable!

(The Guardians of Rescue is a registered 501(c)3, not for profit organization whose members work tirelessly to work to protect the wellbeing of all animals and come to the aid of those in distress. We are all about People Helping Animals and Animals Helping People.)

ASPCA: Marketing Juggernaut or Animal Welfare Organization?

I try to assume the best about all animal welfare organizations…until I don’t. I have found over the last 10 years that most of them do some good, and many do a lot of good. And others, such as the now-defunct NJSPCA–an absurd group of mostly obese wanna-be cops who couldn’t make the grade in real life, do no good, except for themselves.

But I never counted the ASPCA, the American Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, in that disgraceful group.  And I still don’t. It definitely does some real good. And yet I am chagrined to see the just-released results of a CBS News investigation that shines a light on the “A’s” (as many call it) spending, specifically the percentage of donations that goes to actually help animals, and where the rest goes. According to CBS, “The ASPCA says the vast majority of donor dollars go directly toward its mission, but a CBS News investigation found there are questions about whether the money is going where donors expect.”

How is that? Well, the investigation continues, “Since 2008, the ASPCA has raised more than $2 billion for animal welfare. In that time, it has spent $146 million, or about 7% of the total money raised, in grants to local animal welfare groups. But during that same time period it spent nearly three times that, at least $421 million, on fundraising. Over $150 million of that went to Eagle-Com Inc, a Canadian media production company, to produce and place ASPCA’s ads.  I can only wonder how many tens of thousands of animals could have been saved, treated, loved and adopted out with $421 million dollars.

Certainly, you’ve seen the ads, unless you literally never watch television. They are heartbreaking, showing covering, shivering, and terrified animals, while a mournful Sarah McLaughlin tune, “In the Arms of an Angel,” plays in the background. Heartbreaking to me, and very effective tugs on the heartstrings of all but the coldest humans imaginable.

Now, obviously, any group funded by donations has to fundraise, and it’s not cheap or easy. But as someone who’s donated a couple times to the A, I became increasingly annoyed that once they had my address, they bombed my mailbox frequently with unwanted and unnecessary “gifts”–calendars I would never use, return address labels I didn’t want, “membership cards” with nowhere to present them, or just slick and glossy appeals for more money, which I would have happily given, except for the fact that I was mad as hell that they were using my original donations on such nonsense.

Moreover, the investigation points out, they give very little of those millions to the local SPCA organizations that do much of the heavy lifting, rescuing animals from abusive and hoarding situations, as well as providing veterinary care and adoption services. Unfortunately for those local organizations, much of the public wrongfully assumes that they’re local chapters of the larger ASPCA. Wrong. They have no affiliation whatsoever, and as the investigation points out, “CBS News spoke to more than two dozen local SPCA’s across the country. A few had received grants worth a few thousand dollars from the ASPCA, which they had applied for. Most, like in Nassau County and Houston, had gotten nothing.”

Finally, and I’m going to pick on him because it’s deserved, the CEO of the ASPCA earned more than $840,000 last year. I choked on that. Granted, it’s just one and the top exec, but for a non-profit organization that ostensibly exists to help homeless and abused animals, that kind of money is far beyond reasonable or remotely justifiable.

So…you can donate to the ASPCA, and again, they do some good works. But better yet, look for a local SPCA, or find a deserving rescue group or shelter, and put your money where it will do the most good.  And you can start with my shelter, Sammy’s Hope in Sayreville, NJ, or Island Animal Alliance, which rescues homeless dogs (“Satos”) from Puerto Rico.

You can find the CBS News clip here.

 

Puppy Mills Fuel Retail Pet Stores in New Jersey: Just a Fact

PUPPY MILLS: Cruelty and Suffering

The main problem we have in New Jersey is the 22 remaining retail pet stores that fuel the puppy mill >> pet store pipeline.

Even during a pandemic, when many businesses have been ordered to close, and animal organizations around the country have halted charitable life-saving transports of animals out of respect for public health, NJ’s puppy milling pet stores continue to sell puppy mill dogs. A HSUS-led coalition request to Gov. Murphy to change this via executive order was unfortunately denied by his office a couple weeks ago.

Fairview NJ Police Chief Kahn Allegedly Delights in Drowning Innocent Animals

FROM HSUS/NEW JERSEY RE POTENTIAL CRIMINAL ANIMAL CRUELTY

Yesterday we received a disturbing tip alleging that Fairview, New Jersey Police Chief Martin Kahn had produced and promoted an instructional video showing how to trap and drown “nuisance” animals in your own backyard. This appears to run afoul of multiple state laws regarding animal cruelty (Title 4:22-17) and criminal activity (Title 2C:5-1). Inflicting such cruel treatment onto animals isn’t just unethical, it is illegal!

Upon originally verifying the validity of the initial complaint, we believe that this situation warrants further investigation by the New Jersey OAG’s Office of Public Integrity and Accountability under the state Attorney General’s Office.

We have the utmost respect for our state’s law enforcement. When there are situations like these that erode the integrity of our faith in law enforcement, especially when innocent animals are at stake, we must take them seriously. We are including the video which was taken directly from the chief’s Instagram profile before it was removed, for the public to judge for themselves.

We encourage you to contact the AG’s office at https://nj.gov/oag/opia/ and join us and other organizations calling for a full investigation of this matter.

In the video, the chief admits to the past killing of numerous animals by the methods he is promoting in the video. The trapping, torment, and drowning of animals on individual personal property outside the legal regulations of hunting and trapping is NOT permitted in New Jersey. Here’s the video: https://www.facebook.com/HSUSNewJersey/videos/255892582224349/?t=14

 

On 3/2/20: Tell Old Bridge Township Council NO PUPPY MILL PETS!!

PUPPY MILLS: Cruelty and Suffering

The Old Bridge, New Jersey Township Council seems on the path to approving the sale of “Puppy Mill” pets at a new township Pet Store, Safari Stan’s. Despite huge opposition from local citizens, animal advocates, shelter and rescue volunteers, and the Humane Society among others–and ordinances prohibiting them in 100+ NJ municipalities–the Council appears bent on this.

Tell them NO!  Puppy Mills are just that: Mills. They ARE CRUEL AND INHUMANE and spread diseases.  SPEAK UP FOR CREATURES WHO HAVE NO VOICE, at the Old Bridge Town Council meeting Monday, March 2 at 7:30 pm, #1 Old Bridge Plaza, Courtroom. 

You can also EMAIL the Council members:
msohor@oldbridge.com
dwalker@oldbridge.com
agbelli@oldbridge.com
agbelli@oldbridge.com
edepalma@oldbridge.com
EBrown@oldbridge.com
MRazzoli@oldbridge.com
JEMurphy@oldbridge.com

 

Old Bridge, New Jersey Does NOT Need an Inhumane Petland!

On Monday evening January 13, 2020, the Township Council of Old Bridge, NJ heard a presentation from two gentlemen who are opening a Petland pet store in the township. Their presentation, complete with story boards and photos, extolled the “wonderful, humane and sanitary” conditions under which the breeders from which they’d source animals operate. They cited the approval of these “fine” breeders by the USDA and verified by inspections. Their descriptions of these breeders sounded as though the animals were living in the Ritz Carlton.

Well, they’re not.

And moments later, a virtual parade of public speakers testified that these breeders are in fact, inhumane prisons where animals are treated with unbelievable and painful cruelty, used as virtual machines to pump out puppies that are then sold to the unsuspecting public for hundreds or thousands of dollars.

To their credit, many of the opposing speakers said they assumed positive intent on the art of the proprietors, and that they not only did not oppose the opening of the store, but supported it. What they opposed was allowing the store to sell puppies that would almost certainly come from these cruel and inhumane breeders.  Several said that they felt that the proprietors have been duped. We must agree.  And this must not be allowed to go forward.

If you want to learn more about these cruel, greedy and inhumane breeders, take a gander here.

More contact information to express your opposition will soon be posted.

Michael Vick Deserves Nothing But Scorn, Not NFL Glory

“As the little red dog lay on the ground, fighting for air, Quanis Phillips grabbed its front legs and Michael Vick grabbed its back legs. They swung the dog over their head like a jump rope then slammed it to the ground. The first impact didn’t kill it. So, Phillips and Vick slammed it again. The two men kept at it, alternating back and forth, pounding the creature against the ground until, at last, the little red dog was dead.”

The Lost Dogs, by Jim Gorant

Let’s not forget what Vick said just outside the courtroom; “Yeah, fine, I killed the dogs. I hung them. I slammed them. I killed all of them. I lost fucking millions, all over some fucking dogs.”

Angry comments about Vick are legitimate understood given the nature of his horrible, cruel and evil crimes, but instead let the NFL know that you don’t want an animal abuser glorified. Vick is EVIL.

  • NFL customer service 800-635-5300
  • Send a letter to the NFL Head Office: 345 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10154
  • Email NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell: rogergoodell@nfl.com
  • Call Roger Goodell 212-450-2000