Animal Breeding Horror Show - Featuring trendy bulldogs, exotic bullies and the dog cum cartel

[Spennychu]

> “Waaah having any preferences about a dog means you’re treating us like breeders!”

Ironic coming from an organization that almost certainly is getting their dogs from BYBs overseas. Hot tip to any Kiwis looking to adopt a dog: if a rescue is primarily focused on bringing dogs from other countries to the US/wherever you are and a large number of those are purebreds, it’s essentially a flipping operation for puppy mill animals. This is especially prevalent for rescues that tout themselves as “saving meat trade dogs”, people who eat dogs generally aren’t using purebred pugs to make stirfry. TBH a rescue having a large number of purebreds is a red flag in general, save for breed-specific rescues. There isn’t exactly a large amount of “trendy” dogs languishing on the streets, or at the very least not enough to meet the demand of people who want a specific breed without having to deal with the guilt of (god forbid) purchasing one from a reputable breeder. It’s somewhat similar to how the majority of kids up for adoption aren’t young/newborn white infants with no health conditions but that’s bar none what most people are looking for, which can lead to private adoption agencies pulling some truly shady shit with desperate expectant mothers.

Eeyup, same can be said with several animal rescues. Remember SaveAFox on youtube? they so-call rescue their foxes by buying them off fur farms and then e-beg people for donations to subsidize their new pets.

They're not even a sanctuary, they are registered on paper as a fur farm operation!

They are technically skirting the law by labelling themselves a fur farm then not conducting any farming operations, at least to my limited knowledge of US law.
There was a google drive of receipts documenting SAF's threadworthy drama and texts leaked by a defector. May as well archive it now for safe keeping:
My favorite is the bit about paying their employees in cat food.

Spoiler: TLDR; fraudsters incapable of a running a business or caring for animals. yes some die.

Buying foxes from fur farms. Not even buying sickly or cull list animals from the fur farm, but 3 week old kits they can bottle feed in hopes of getting the tamest pet fox. And looking for the prettiest colors of course.

(Mikayla Raines is the protagonist of SaveAFox. Reanna is an employee.)

SAF stealing foxes

Mikayla pestered a fur trapper to sell her wild foxes

Reanna asking a seller to fake USDA documents so she can illegally have a pet possum in MN

Likely about Mikayla or one her cohorts (not all of these screens were posted with context but it must be one of the lot)

Their pet coyote escaped, but intentionally mislabeling him as a coydog on missing posters.

Animals keep escaping, Mikayla is too high to care

A fox named Oliver was filmed escaping his kennel and ran away. SAF buys a replacement lookalike from the fur farm.

General contempt for their animals

SAF Bodycount

Scotch was left in his run with a leash on where he got entangled then baked to death in the sun

Spoiler: dead fox in a freezer

350$ surrender fee and they do not take females.

SAF's finances are a mess

Employee payed with CAT FOOD

She makes a lot on YT

SAF gofundme asking for funds as a rescue in 2016, they filed as a business in late 2017.

This last part had no context but it seems that as of 2020 when this was made, SAF was not listed in Lakeville or Faribault MN as an organization eligible for tax-deductible donations. I don't know if Mikayla has made any claims saying they are.

Ex-employees telling the local news that the IRS needs to audit them

The city of Lakeville has had enough of her bullshit.

Telling her fans to mobilize and GET ON ELLEN to save the rescue

Mikayla spending funds on tattoos (she is mikdolittles_animals)

says she's a surrogate?? I wonder how those surrogate parents would feel knowing she plays with wild animals, who knows what kind of diseases or parasites she gets exposed to. If she's telling the truth, of course.

Peter Ornelas is a fox and skunk breeder Mikayla may have ALLEGEDLY partnered with to buy foxes from, he is charged with child molestation.

This file was simply titled Mikayla Meth Face, I don't know what she uses but clearly when Jax escaped she was on something.

And finally, whetever the hell this is. what is with exotics people and kink?

This would have been up to 2020, if anyone can see what's gone on with them since maybe we could put it towards a separate thread on animal rescues. I'm not in the fox circle, if you think dog circles are insane you haven't even seen fox people. Something about pet foxes attracts an advanced strain of insanity and borderline, moreso than wolfdogs.

No wonder nobody wants to adopt shit, you're playing russian roulette between a decent rescue org or a clownshow being run by a profiteering egomaniac.

 

[Adamska]

Well sheeit did not expect to see that level of fuckery from that channel. It comes up from time to time when I look up people tending to animals on YT.

 

[Lost Soul]

Well sheeit did not expect to see that level of fuckery from that channel. It comes up from time to time when I look up people tending to animals on YT.

Yeah I did not expect to see this today. Had been following them for several years now. Always enjoyed the information they provided on the foxes. Had no idea this was going on in the background. Guess it shouldn't surprise me though if she is flaunting them all over YouTube and other social media. I never agreed with the people they gave the foxes to either. If you look at some of the enclosures the "new families" have for the foxes they "adopt" from her, they are super tiny, no yard, etc.

She constantly pushes for merch sales and donations on her videos too. I almost bought a shirt in support, but super glad I did not.

I wonder if there was any bullshit going on too with Valentine that had Gingival Hyperplasia. I believe they ended up having to put it down (posted video below), but after reading all of these messages, it probably just cost her too much and was too much of an inconvenience. I cant think of another fox she has that has an actual real problem that needed to be "rescued" due to its conditions. Of the videos I have seen, she generally does "rescue" the foxes that are prettier. There were several in her walkthroughs I always wondered why she DIDN'T pick because of this reason.

This is Valentine, who apparently someone begged her to rescue.
Video of his death memorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Daw9MjbB7Zk

From their YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZ42KAIU_Gw
"#thevalentinefox BACKSTORY Valentine is a 5 year old pearl/cross furfarm rescue fox with a genetic condition called Gingival Hyperplasia. Because of this he gets surgery once a year to trim back his gums. Since his condition is not curable at this time. Valentines recap from 10-20-2017 "Valentine was brought into the vet for his very first exam. During this exam he received all vaccines, was neutered, and we had a biopsy done to find out what exactly is wrong with his mouth. The results from his biopsy came back. He has something called Gingival hyperplasia which is just the overgrowth of gums and luckly this is not cancerous. Studies have shown this is often hereditary in farm foxes. This happens when they are bred for the fur quality (many of you may have noticed he has the thickest coat of fur here) and this was the unfortunate side affect. We can help Val! He will need more surgeries to remove the tissues so the teeth can have normal wear and exposure. Removing the extra tissue will also help prevent infections. Because with how they are now he often gets hair stuck in his gums. It may take more than one surgery to help Val. His sponsors are going to do what they can but we would appreciate donations to help Valentine's medical costs."

I did a quick lookback at a couple to find some shots:
From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7q6-MY5xYU

The cage seemed like such a downgrade to me and on top of that I dont think they even have a "yard" for Todd.
I don't even think they had a follow up with him.

For Kib and Waverly, they never once pulled the camera back to show the rest of the area, the size of the enclosure, or any type of size of yard.
It looks like a glorified ferret cage.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8XywC09J5o

Bonus comment I found while poking around:

 

[Gaz Norfman]

Jesus! It doesn’t surprise me that fox people would be crazy. Seems like a perfect crossover between “animal people whose hearts are too big for their own good,” “not like the other girls” and “tiger king.”

Animal rescues could absolutely be a thread. I’m happy to help contribute!

 

[Product Placement]

Really disappointing about Save a Fox, foxes are great animals and deserve to have a good life free of shit like this, fur farms and inbreed twats hunting them for fun (don't mean farms keeping them away from life stock)

Thinking about it, don't think the Save a Fox thing suits this thread and would better off with it's own thread which would also bring more attention to it

 

[Cool Spot]

Furries are probably the primary consumers of these black market fox breeding operations. Furries are obsessed with foxes as it is, and we all know about the furry track record when it comes to bestiality.

 

[Bisdejl]

Yeah, I started getting a bit suspicious of SAF when I noticed the Porsche and Navigator in the following video (should start at 6:36):

 

[Sparkling Yuzu]

Damn, I subbed to her for yrs and loved to see the foxes. Didn't know she was a psycho junkie who keeps fox corpses in her freezer and lets them bake to death in the sun.

 

[sheepworldvizor]

Used to follow their insta but when she talked about being a surrogate for money several times. Also that cub she used to wear in a baby harness that ‘escaped’ and got hit by a car…
Something felt off.
Good to see all the evidence in one place.

 

[Lost Soul]

Furries are probably the primary consumers of these black market fox breeding operations. Furries are obsessed with foxes as it is, and we all know about the furry track record when it comes to bestiality.

There's been a bullshit push too with "Domesticated Foxes" which I believe was/is a running experiment for the last ~58years which involves a lot of selective breeding.

Why domesticated foxes are genetically fascinating (and terrible pets)

Spoiler: Quoted Information from Article

"As director of the newly-minted Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Belyaev was curious as to how dogs first became domesticated. He decided that to fully understand the process, he must attempt to replicate the early days of domestication. He picked foxes for the experiment because of their close family ties with dogs (both are canids)."

"Unfortunately, Belyaev died before seeing the final results. But today, 58 years after the start of the program, there is now a large, sustainable population of domesticated foxes. These animals have no fear of humans, and actively seek out human companionship. The most friendly are known as “elite” foxes.

“By the tenth generation, 18 percent of fox pups were elite; by the 20th, the figure had reached 35 percent,” Lyudmilla Trut, one of the lead researchers at the Institute of Cytology and Genetics, wrote in a paper describing the experiment in 1999. “Today elite foxes make up 70 to 80 percent of our experimentally selected population.”"

What is a Siberian cupcake

Spoiler: Quoted Information from Article

"Siberian Cupcakes are Russian Domesticated foxes (RDF) that are imported into the US from the Institute of Cytology and Genetics (ICG) in Novosibirsk, RU as Ambassador animals at the JABCECC. The Siberian Cupcakes were originally obtained by the founders of the JABCECC to better understand the use of the RDF for utility work, in particular search and rescue work. ... "

"After many months and countless hours of effort, two Russian domesticated foxes were on a plane speeding toward America to begin their new lives as Americans. When they were first met at the airport, Amy and Dave were, no doubt, more nervous then them, as they really did not know what to expect. They were certainly not wild foxes, certainly not dogs, not cats, extremely intelligent, friendly, independent, and adorable. But how trainable are they? Well, with proper motivation, they would pick up new behaviors quicker than a dog. They learned to sit, come, down, stay, and give me your paw. Of course, they were a bit more clever than a dog and certainly more independent, so without a treat, they would only perform the command if they "felt like it". "

The silver fox domestication experiment

Spoiler: Quoted Information from Article

"Both as a result of his reading of Darwin’s The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication (Darwin 186, and his interaction with domesticated animals at the Ivanova Agricultural Academy and at the Institute for Fur Breeding Animals, Belyaev knew that many domesticated species share a suite of characteristics including floppy ears, short, curly tails, juvenilized facial and body features, reduced stress hormone levels, mottled fur, and relatively long reproductive seasons. Today this suite of traits is known as the domestication syndrome. Belyaev found this perplexing. Our ancestors had domesticated species for a plethora of reasons—including transportation (e.g., horses), food (e.g., cattle) and protection (e.g., dogs)—yet regardless of what they were selected for, domesticated species, over time, begin to display traits in the domestication syndrome. Why? Belyaev hypothesized that the one thing our ancestors always needed in a species they were domesticating was an animal that interacted prosocially with humans. We can’t have our domesticates-to-be trying to bite our heads off. And so he hypothesized that the early stages of all animal domestication events involved choosing the calmest, most prosocial-toward-human animals: I will refer to this trait as tameness, though that term is used in many different ways in the literature. Belyaev further hypothesized that all of the traits in the domestication syndrome were somehow or another, though he didn’t know how or why, genetically linked to genes associated with tameness.

Belyaev set out to test these hypotheses using a species he had worked with extensively at the Institute for Fur Breeding: the silver fox, a variant of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes). Every generation he and his team would test hundreds of foxes, and the top 10% of the tamest would be selected to parent the next generation. They developed a scale for scoring tameness, and how a fox scored on this scale was the sole criteria for selecting foxes to parent the next generation. Belyaev could then test whether, over generations, foxes were getting tamer and tamer, and whether the traits in the domestication syndrome appeared if they selected strictly based on tameness."

People read stuff like this and go "Wow! Just like a dog! I can do that!" when in reality they probably can't even raise and take care of a dog. Then they come home with this wild animal that they probably don't have enough space for, and may even be illegal in their state, to find it digging in their couch, peeing on EVERYTHING, and literally screaming.

This same stuff applies to the dogs too. People see these big breeds or frogs or whatehave you an think "yeah no problem, I will be cool!" then something goes terribly wrong. They are in it for the fame just the same and nothing more.

 

[UnsufficentBoobage]

It doesn’t surprise me that fox people would be crazy. Seems like a perfect crossover between “animal people whose hearts are too big for their own good,” “not like the other girls” and “tiger king

I keep being puzzled by how keeping anything other than cat/dog/fish is treated as a "lifestyle" or, like, counterculture? Seems like people get Like This first, then decide they need an unique pet.

 

[Frito]

I keep being puzzled by how keeping anything other than cat/dog/fish is treated as a "lifestyle" or, like, counterculture? Seems like people get Like This first, then decide they need an unique pet.

Foxes are to pets as how polyamory is to relationships: both taken up by socially outcast losers in an attempt to seem interesting instead of being honest with people about how soul-crushingly boring they are. I’ve never met a well-adjusted person who was seriously interested in keeping a fox as a pet, which makes sense once you realize foxes are essentially screeching, smelly piss machines that you’ll never be able to treat like a regular pet. Say what you will about exotics, but at least something like a snake is comparatively low-maintenence and won’t destroy your house by virtue of being a wild animal you’ve forced into a studio apartment.

Also, can’t quote because the Farms is being a bit ‘tarded about certain posts, but holy shit @Spennychu what a find. I remember a similar situation with a wolfdog “rescue” on Tumblr a few years back, but unfortunately it’s been so long any details beyond that elude me. What stood out the most to me was probably the whole “surrogacy is how I make money” shit, mostly because it made me realize I’ve never met a normal woman into paid surrogacy. Either they’re desperate and poor, or certified bunny boilers a-la Diane Downs/the lovely specimen in your post (fox boiler, in her case). I’m sure there’s at least a few women who fall into the stereotype of “has easy pregnancies and wants to help out infertile families while being paid for her goodwill”, but it’s a vanishingly small number, apparently.

All that aside, I echo a few other people in the thread that an animal rescue thread could be entertaining as hell; maybe have it split into two main sections with one covering general dog/cat organizations and the other about exotics/wolfdogs/foxes/ect ?

 

[Sparkling Yuzu]

I’ve never met a normal woman into paid surrogacy. Either they’re desperate and poor, or certified bunny boilers a-la Diane Downs/the lovely specimen in your post (fox boiler freezer, in her case)

fify

 

[Spennychu]

I remember a similar situation with a wolfdog “rescue”

I believe that was Pack West? Someone made a r/hobbydrama post roasting them.

Spoiler: r/hobbydrama post

[Animal rescue] The downfall of Pack West Wolfdog Rescue​

I lurk on Tumblr in what is known as the "vulture culture" community, basically, people who are into collecting animals bones, hides, taxidermy, etc. Some hunt and/or trap, and the community is generally incredibly helpful in teaching people how to properly tan hides, clean bones, and abide by the myriad wildlife laws in the US. It was a wonderful change from people I have met in person who brushed off my interest and were otherwise not forthcoming with information. It is via this community I came across this drama and the person it centers on, Naturepunk. Some stuff I will be able to link to, some I will have to paraphrase because I believe real names get mentioned in a few posts. The order of events may not be 100% accurate, but I'm trying my best, since some posts/blogs have since been deleted.
Naturepunk is considered one of the "founding" members of the VC community, and was very active and well-respected. She took on a lot of taxidermy commissions, especially of headdresses, and sold various things in her Etsy shop. Let me preface this with saying that a taxidermy quality hide is expensive, especially for larger animals, because the face has to be skinned out in a very particular, precise way, or the hide isn't mountable. The process of taxidermy is also expensive (think $400-500+ for a shoulder mount buck), and as such Naturepunk charged accordingly for her commissions. Around 2015, she bought a wolfdog, purportedly for educational purposes, and her and several other people start Pack West Wolfdog rescue.
Before we get into where things really start falling apart, I'll say a bit on the shit you need to do when you start an animal rescue of any sort in order to stay legit with state and federal authorities. If you run a 501, you must keep records, including veterinary records of all the animals in your possession. It's not glamorous but you gotta do it. The animals must have proper containment- wolfdogs basically need zoo-like enclosures, as they will very much escape out of a typical dog kennel-type setup, and need plenty of room to move. There have to be enough enclosures to separate problem animals from each other. If you allow volunteers to work on your property, you need proper waivers and training. Lastly, if you exhibit your animals publicly in any way, whether you allow people to visit the facility, or bring animals offsite, you must be inspected and licensed by the USDA.
Pack West took on a number of other wolfdogs, and had several tumblrs with plenty of pics of the animals and the day to day operations of the rescue. Naturepunk and the others involved frequently posted educational information about wolfdogs, such as issues with misidentification and the difficulty of keeping them. I regularly saw posts from their various accounts cross my dash, and they received quite a lot of financial support from the VC community and other various animal-related users, including for emergency situations, such as when Naturepunk totaled her truck that was purportedly purchased for the rescue. They brought their wolfdogs to educational events, photoshoots, and music videos. The biggest news was when a very popular animal behavior blog, Why Animals Do the Thing, went to Pack West in January 2017 as part of her travels in visiting and educating on zoos, rescues, and other animal care facilities.
The first signs of trouble was when a number of posts began circulating the VC community from people who had either ordered things from Naturepunk's Etsy or had sent hides to her for taxidermy commissions. They were reporting that they had not received Etsy items, with no communication from Naturepunk, and those who had sent hides in for commissions were saying they had been waiting years to get their finished headdresses back, again, with little to no communication. Let me reiterate that these hides are often extremely expensive and have immense emotional/spiritual value to their owners, and that they had paid Naturepunk hundreds of dollars to mount them.
Then, WADTT announced they would be cutting ties with Pack West that spring. After some prodding, they revealed a number of incredibly problematic details about the rescue. But then even worse information came out- I will paraphrase since real names get mentioned. A woman who runs a successful wolf and wolfdog rescue, S, was asked to join the board of Pack West to help them with some admin issues. What she found "left [her] rather stunned, shocked, disgusted, and disheartened," and she felt that the public needed to know the issues the rescue was having. These ranged from charging a $400 surrender fee plus $300 for gas to rehome two animals, Naturepunk using those fees to purchase their ambassador wolfdog from a breeder hours after performing that "rescue," but worst, was when a board member housed one of those "rescued" wolfdogs with two intact, high content animals, one of which ended up killing the foster. Pack West covered this up by claiming wild animals had gotten into the enclosure. Shortly after, another animal was killed, which was again claimed to be caused by a wild animal. The wolfdog involved with the latter attack also seriously injured the child of the board member caring for them.
The rescue had to administratively dissolve by May 2017, because no one had filed the proper paperwork the previous January to keep their 501c3 status. Despite this, they continued to take donations and engage in fundraising, such as the aforementioned photoshoots, which they were engaging in without USDA approval. S questioned the boardmembers why they wanted to start a rescue in the first place, and they all admitted they only cared about photography, online education and......money. S explained that when the rescue dissolves, the animals, since they are considered property of the rescue, can be sold off as part of the liquidation, which of course was when the boardmembers realized what deep shit they'd gotten themselves into. In the end, a solution was figured out where no animals had to be sold, though Naturepunk had to pay back what she spent purchasing the wolfdog from the breeder, as well as the $2800 members of the public had paid her for truck repairs- the truck had only been used for rescue 4 times in the two years of Pack West's operation and was thus deemed a "personal vehicle." While all this was going on, one of the rescue's wolfdogs escaped, and S made arrangements to put the animal in the care of a more competent owner.
There was no accountability as to where money went. "NO proof of purchases exists for several big items, like the truck, for example," and "no receipts were kept of transactions that were done." The animal that S rehomed had no vet or vaccination records, apparently no one knew where they were. Pack West continued to accept donations after they lost their 501 status.
After this giant post had spread, WADTT came out corroborating the issues raised, and revealed she was bitten by the wolfdog that lacked vet records. She mentioned offhand to Naturepunk that she might have to get treatment for the bite, she was told to lie and say she was bitten by her German Shepherd. WADTT described inadequate and small enclosures, such as 3 animals having only a single doghouse and lean-to to escape harsh weather. Carcasses used for feeding were allowed to rot. They were attempting to rehome a malamute with what vet friends of WADTT described as "the worst dysplaisa they'd ever seen," and had a long history of biting because of the terrible pain he was in. In the end, she felt regret about not reporting Pack West to the USDA as an unlicensed animal exhibitor.
Needless to say, many people lost respect for Naturepunk and felt betrayed that they had given money to the "rescue." I feel that Naturepunk and the others involved had good intentions at first, but their inexperience, and subsequent refusal to listen to more experienced people, have led to this shitshow. The animal deaths and welfare issues were never mentioned on their social media accounts when they finally announced the dissolution of the rescue. And as a bonus, Naturepunk left for a month this summer to appear on Naked and Afraid, with no info on who will care for her animals during that time. Time will tell if she will ever admit to what really happened to Pack West.

Spoiler: WADTT's aforementioned callout

I’m very hesitant to answer this question, but yeah, I can. I’ve been torn for a while about addressing this on the blog - I don’t want to undermine a growing organization, but I do think there are some things that, in the context of an organization I hadn’t personally worked with, I would feel that people should know. Since there are a couple of things that are serious enough that I’m no longer comfortable being involved with them until they’ve been addressed, I think they need to be talked about.
These issues were either not present or not readily apparent when I started working with them, but have occurred or become noticeable in the interim. It was not until recently that I put together the individual issues I was uncomfortable with into the larger picture that led me to choose to distance myself from them. I believe I’ve voiced my observations regarding all of these issues to Pack West either in person or by chat, so these are not unknown issues.

My concerns are based on personal observation of how the facility functions during the two week-long periods I have spent at their facility and my personal online communications with them during the period between visits. My feelings on why these issues are problems stem from over a decade as a dog trainer, a degree in behavioral science, and six years of intense study of, and participation in, exotic animal management and welfare.The below is true to my knowledge as of January, 2017 - I would love to hear that things have since changed, and would happily reassess my opinion based on that.

Pack West does not, to the best of my knowledge, have any liability waivers or training protocols for volunteers to complete before having access to the animals. This is very unusual for an exotic animal rescue allowing volunteers - a quick google makes it clear that most places require volunteers to sign liability forms and go through training processes to prove they understand the behavior of the animals and can interact with them appropriately. If Pack West is allowing people to have contact with animals who are potentially dangerous - and whose rabies vaccinations don’t protect them under federal law - I’d want to see them really think through what a volunteer program would entail and how they’d protect both the volunteers and their animals. I’d also want to see how those considerations would alter their practice of having their ambassador animals interact with the public without a signed waiver or muzzles on the animals. Accidents happen, and I worry their current practice would end in tragedy someday in the future.

Pack West does not, to the best of my knowledge, have either a professional behaviorist or anyone with professional animal training and management experience on staff or on retainer. As far as I am aware of, there is not anyone with a professional background in canid or domestic dog behavior involved with the intake of new rescues or with assessing the dynamics between cohoused animals. This also means that, when I was there, there was no established training protocol for managing the wolfdogs living on site, nor were there proactive management plans created to prepare for potential emergency handling needs. I believe this played a significant role in resource guarding and cabin fever escalating to the point of a fight between Cabal and Ivar while I was on site in January - as far as I know, they are no longer housed together as a result of the fight.

I am aware that for a new rescue professional oversight may be expensive and hard to access. I believe that, nevertheless, it should still be one of their highest priorities as it immediately impacts the welfare of their animals and the safety of their staff. To be truly comfortable engaging with them again, I would want to see the members of the facility gain personal academic or professional experience in animal behavior, management, and training if they can’t afford to hire an extant professional to consult regularly. From my first-hand experiences, this currently doesn’t seem to be a priority for them - I got the impression that hands-on experience with the specific animals was considered equally as relevant as any potential academic and professional background. I feel that rescues, as professional organizations, are obligated to go above and beyond that mythology.

Pack West does not, to the best of my knowledge, have any on-site housing for their rescue animals other than a single 750 square-foot (110 foot perimeter) outdoor enclosure. I did not observe the containment to be locked at any time during either of my visits, even when nobody was on the property, nor does it have secondary containment (which is vital when housing animals known for being escape artists) other than the surrounding yard, which has a low gate and a fence that was visibly compromised in multiple spots as of my last trip. To the best of my knowledge, this enclosure is the permanent home to two large adult male wolfdogs, and for the duration of my January visit additionally housed the resident GSD or another rescue wolfdog. As of that visit, the containment furniture was comprised of two dog houses, a tire, an above-ground pond, and an overhang - there was no indoor area for the animals to use to escape the weather, no waterproof substrate or manmade flooring that would give them an escape from moisture, and no alternate space in which the animals could get a break from each other if needed. The animals were allowed time in the larger yard on site when observed, but during my trip they still spent all of their nights and many daytime hours in the single containment. By contrast, the standards set by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (an organization considered on par with AZA for regulating rescue and sanctuary environments) for an appropriate enclosure type for multiple large canids require “a minimum of 5,000 sq. ft. (465 sq. m) for large canids housed as pairs or trios (…) and a minimum of two rooms or one indoor room and one shift yard per pair of compatible canids”.

Again, I understand that for a small rescue building more containment is expensive and hard to do. Pack West stated before they acquired Ivar (close to a year ago) that they were hoping to sell the property they are currently based on and relocate the rescue, and I think as such they have chosen to not build any new enclosures due to the resources that would be lost during the move. However, as rescue organizations take in unknown animals, I feel it’s crucial that they have multiple enclosures in which they can quarantine animals, do introductions, give residents breaks from each other, and allow incompatible animals to live separately. I don’t believe it’s responsible for a facility to not prioritize having the appropriate living quarters for the animals they take in at present, even if it means a loss of some resources down the line.

Pack West, to the best of my knowledge, has never had their facility inspected or been licensed by the USDA. I hope I’m wrong on this one, because USDA oversight is a federal requirement for any facility that exhibits animals to the public. While Pack West’s facility is not technically open to the public, they are not exempt from USDA regulation because they use their animals for photoshoots and music videos as well as promotional and fundraising campaigns for the organization. If this is true, it is a huge problem - it is the responsibility of a facility to apply for a license and be inspected before beginning to exhibit animals - and most importantly, it would mean that the facility has never been inspected to make sure that its setup is in accordance with the Animal Welfare Act. I understand that an organization that is trying move would probably prefer not to spend the money to get their current property in accordance with AWA regulations to only to sell it shortly after and start over, but federal animal welfare laws must be first priority.
I could understand a new organization struggling with maybe one of these issues, but when considered as a whole they don’t represent an ethos of animal management that I’m currently comfortable supporting - especially considering what appears to me to be avoidance of USDA oversight. I do believe in the value of what the organization is hoping to become - as places that do accurate education and outreach about wolfdogs and wolfy-looking dogs are rare - but before I’m willing to publicly support them again, these issues really need to be addressed.
I’m really scared to post this, because I know it may be interpreted as a betrayal of my previous friendly relationship with the facility, but it is the same due diligence I would give to any other facility when asked about why I would not personally support it.

 

[Shitted Scaredless]

Spoiler: Powerlevel

Hypothetically, I'd like a fox. They're cute. But unlike some, I know in reality it'd be a nightmare to deal with without the proper everything. I think everyone has a pet they want hypothetically, but that doesn't mean get one.

 

[Micotil 300]

There's some rich folks out by me that are constantly offering "100% pure! AKC eligible!" Aussie pups for sale at exorbitant prices. They seemed legitimate enough, but I've never purchased a dog from them so I wouldn't know firsthand. Suddenly, they stopped, and when I asked around town about it (figuring they were moving or something), I was told by a few different people that they had two "bad litters" that they had to euthanize, and basically lost all their business.

When I asked what constitutes a "bad litter," I was thinking it was just low-quality puppies (and wondering why they didn't just sell them cheaper). But I was told from two different sources that it was much, much worse -- the poor creatures were completely deaf, and all of them were blind (one of them told me "no eyes at all"), with hip deformities. I don't know if it was a case of inbreeding, or intentionally breeding for double-merle (I'm not sure what that causes but I've always heard that it's bad), or just incompatible genes, but money is on one of the former options.

 

[Frito]

There's some rich folks out by me that are constantly offering "100% pure! AKC eligible!" Aussie pups for sale at exorbitant prices. They seemed legitimate enough, but I've never purchased a dog from them so I wouldn't know firsthand. Suddenly, they stopped, and when I asked around town about it (figuring they were moving or something), I was told by a few different people that they had two "bad litters" that they had to euthanize, and basically lost all their business.

When I asked what constitutes a "bad litter," I was thinking it was just low-quality puppies (and wondering why they didn't just sell them cheaper). But I was told from two different sources that it was much, much worse -- the poor creatures were completely deaf, and all of them were blind (one of them told me "no eyes at all"), with hip deformities. I don't know if it was a case of inbreeding, or intentionally breeding for double-merle (I'm not sure what that causes but I've always heard that it's bad), or just incompatible genes, but money is on one of the former options.

Sounds like intentional double merles with a side of never bothering to do OFA hip testing (basically fancy exams + x-rays done by veterinary specialists that grade the feature in question on a scale that goes Good-Fair-Average-Holy Shit This Dog Actively has hip dysplasia what are you DOING). IIRC the merle gene has similar issues that most other “white genes” do in the sense that it predisposes the dog to being born deaf, due to how pigment is necessary in the proper formation of certain structures in the ear. Something similar can happen with the eyes, though I’m not 100% sure why double merles tend to have exceptionally fucked peepers versus the “normal” deformities seen in pigmentless eyes like poor vision or sun sensitivity.

 

[Mepsi Pax]

My family noticed this shit when we were trying to get a cat (ended up getting two cats on gumtree ha) These people are insane. Even big shelters are stupid fussy. Wont even let you take a cat if you plan on keeping it inside

Wow it's rare that you find animalfags that understand what a cat is and what it does, good on them

Here it's otherway around. Inside only, no exceptions.

Keeping a cat inside is like keeping it in prison, like a bird in a cage. Cats are ranging predators, they're built (physically and psychologically) for wandering their territory. They're extremely adept at surviving outdoors. They like to prowl around and get in altercations with other cats and cat accessories. A good cat will yell at you to let it out in the morning or whenever, and then come back at night to eat and sleep (usually you can call them in). It may not be much of a lap cat, but keeping a slave cat locked up so you can make it your cuddle toy is extremely feminine (disgusting).

Yeah they can get hit by cars and killed by coyotes or whatever, that's life, it ends, at least you didn't steal the poor cat's agency from it and turn it into a stuffed animal. My (genetically) barncat Tabby had a rich and long life roaming the neighborhoods we lived in, and he didn't even get skunked that often. Eventually he got hit by a car, and it was sad, but he LIVED and lived well and I would never consider confining a cat to the house after that experience. (Actually the fucker refused to be confined, once he got some size on him and learned hwat outside was he would bang on the door and yowl until you let him out)

 

[The Whore of Babylon]

Wow it's rare that you find animalfags that understand what a cat is and what it does, good on them

Keeping a cat inside is like keeping it in prison, like a bird in a cage. Cats are ranging predators, they're built (physically and psychologically) for wandering their territory. They're extremely adept at surviving outdoors. They like to prowl around and get in altercations with other cats and cat accessories. A good cat will yell at you to let it out in the morning or whenever, and then come back at night to eat and sleep (usually you can call them in). It may not be much of a lap cat, but keeping a slave cat locked up so you can make it your cuddle toy is extremely feminine (disgusting).

Yeah they can get hit by cars and killed by coyotes or whatever, that's life, it ends, at least you didn't steal the poor cat's agency from it and turn it into a stuffed animal. My (genetically) barncat Tabby had a rich and long life roaming the neighborhoods we lived in, and he didn't even get skunked that often. Eventually he got hit by a car, and it was sad, but he LIVED and lived well and I would never consider confining a cat to the house after that experience. (Actually the fucker refused to be confined, once he got some size on him and learned hwat outside was he would bang on the door and yowl until you let him out)

youre retarded lol "yeah i want to let my animal not only suffer from extremely preventable injuries and death but i also want to risk them bringing illnesses home whenever they eat something they shouldn't have and also i want them to decimate the local bird population"

"theyre ranged hunters" yeah and humans are endurance hunters yet i don't see your fatass chasing down an elk to bring home

 

[Spennychu]

Idiots will fight tooth and nail for the right to scrape their cat off the road. lf you can't be arsed to give your kitty the mental stimulation it needs without turning it loose, maybe you should reconsider a pet cat. Get some cat furniture, toys, and spend some time playing with it every day. I let mine hunt bugs that get trapped in the house, you can even make cat kongs or a fenced catio enclosure.

I fucking love cats but they're miniature terrorists who kill for fun, and what you see on your porch is a tiny fraction of their body count. Current toll is something like 2.4 billion birds killed annually in the US alone and 33 species extinct globally (that we know of) due to cat predation.

Spoiler: Aussie feral cat stomach contents (nasty)