The Special
Investigations Unit (SIU) functions as the investigative
arm of LCA. The SIU team is focused on validating
information, detecting suspect activity, and exposing the
illegal or unethical activities and reporting them to
local, state and federal authorities for prosecution or
other disposition.
The information obtained in our investigations will be
used in developing campaigns, public education and
outreach, and in drafting legislation that would bring
lasting changes for the animals.
Last Chance For Animals is widely known for investigations that
have exposed horrible cruelty and misuse of animals everywhere.
From exposing illegal companion animal consumption, the mass
slaughter of deer by the National Parks Services at Gettysburg,
to the first ever conviction of USDA licensed B dealers leading
to maximum prison terms for three people, LCA is committed to
bringing these issues to the forefront and effecting change for
the animals.
Our investigations may include any of the following activities:
Data
Analysis
Interviews
Research
Surveillance
Undercover Operations
Working with law enforcement
The scope of LCA's investigations includes, but is not limited
to:
Circus
cruelty
Pet
theft / B Dealers
Pound
Seizure
Puppy
mills
Vivisection
Recent Investigations
Puppy Mill Investigations
Undercover Photograph of Yorkshire Terrier at World Kennel, April 29th 2009.
In May 2008, as a result of LCA’s SIU investigation, World Kennel was ordered to
reduce the population of dogs in their breeding facility from 402 to 100.
Today, their current population of dogs is about 135. This photograph represents
the life of just one of those dogs inside this Southern California "puppy mill."
LCA'S SIU Takes Cesar Millan Undercover:
LCA’S SIU Investigator blog: “From Pet Store to Puppy Mill”
When Last Chance For Animals' Special Investigations Unit (SIU) began
looking into the practices of boutique pet stores in Los Angeles selling "designer"
dogs for up to $3,500, I would pose as a customer with Kim Sill (our stalwart
volunteer) and ask the sales person a simple question, "Where do your dogs come from?"
Invariably the answer was that the dogs came from a "local breeder" and the mother
and father dog live "on a ranch" – and this idyllic picture would be painted of
where the puppy came from. In a way it makes the customer feel good that
for the money they’re paying, they’re receiving something special. Smelling
a rat, we worked backwards and found the location of the dog's origins, the
idyllic “ranch” and drove out to take a look.
We found the “ranch” called World Kennel, 70 miles north of Los Angeles
in the Palmdale area. With a simple look over a high fence with some
binoculars and a video camera we discovered a breeding system where the parent of that
puppy in the window is kept in a cage or on concrete its whole life.
The noble “mother” portrayed by the salesperson was actually bred over and
over again from various sires and most likely had no idea how to
run on grass, or what a dog treat tastes like. We also discovered that the
breeding facility which normally would be approved to keep as much as
265 dogs six months earlier had recently exploded to a population of 403!
SIU kept World Kennel under surveillance and set out to discover several
more breeding facilities or “ranches,” as they like to say in the pet
stores, which were also breeding dogs in huge numbers. To our shock we
began to understand that somehow Los Angeles was becoming the puppy mill capital
of the West Coast. Last Chance for Animals had to do something about it.
As it turns out, so did Cesar Milan. When the producers of the Dog Whisperer
asked us to take Cesar out with us on our ongoing investigation, I was honored. When
the idea came up of getting Cesar inside a puppy mill, I was baffled. How do
you get the most recognizable dude associated with dogs into a dog factory? However,
if there's one thing Chris DeRose and our investigators are good at it, it's
getting people to let us in. While shooting outside a puppy mill in the desert,
we were approached by the owner. Chris DeRose convinced the owner that we were just
there to inspect and approve the dog factories and Cesar would help us to see that the
dogs there were happy. Within seconds, I was in a pick up truck with Cesar and the
owner, being driven to his kennel, making sure I had enough tape in my hidden camera to capture
my little version of history: Cesar Milan inside a puppy mill. While Cesar quipped with
the cagey owner, and toured the place, I tried to shoot the action with the camera
hidden in my shirt. Somehow our investigation into the practices of puppy mills in So.
California was resulting in getting the most recognizable authority on dogs to see
first hand the conditions that create these dogs’ chronic behaviors. It was awesome.
As we returned back to the crew who was wondering “what happened inside there?” I recalled
that we were getting the answer to that one simple question we’d asked 6 months
before: “Where do your dogs come from?” And the answer, through the
eyes of Cesar Milan, was simple... They come from puppy mills.
-- LCA's Director of Investigations
Cesar Millan: The Dog Whisperer and LCA’s SIU Bonus Undercover Footage
Cesar Millan is not affiliated with LCA. These clips are outtakes from NatGeo’s “Dog Whisperer: Inside Puppymills:
LCA and Antonovitch Lead Puppy Mill Reform Campaign
in Los Angeles County
After LCA’s SIU uncovered the desperate conditions for dogs at World Kennel, a breeding facility near Palmdale, CA that supplied several Los Angeles Puppy “boutiques,” LA County Supervisor Mike Antonovitch (R) invited LCA to spearhead a taskforce to solve the area’s previously unknown puppy mill problem. SIU swung into action overtly and covertly to bring to light “LA’s dirty little secret.” Armed with this video and our report, Mike Antonovitch proposed a motion to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisor’s to review ordinances and legislations to effectively ban “Puppy Mills” in the County.
LCA’s
SIU conducted an undercover investigation into a rendering plant
in Southern California in May 2007.
For more information about rendering and our spay/neuter
campaign visit our campaign website.
Investigator Links
1.
CRISP
Computer Retrieval of Information on Scientific Projects
CRISP is a searchable database of federally funded biomedical
research.
2.
The Animal Welfare Act
The AWA is a federal law regulating the treatment of (some)
animals in
research facilities, entertainment industries, and those kept
for
companionship.
3. USDA Inspection Reports
Clicking on any of the links below provides you with information
on Dealers, Research, Exhibits & Transportations.
4.
Freedom of Information Act
FOIA is a federal act which allows the public to access the
records of
government agencies, including those that experiment on animals,
upon
request.
