“Puppy mill” cases come to a head
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1998:
BUNA, Texas––Scheduled to make
a court appearance on March 25 to answer
neglect charges, dog and horse fancier Joyce
Goodrich, 59, of Buna, Texas, instead killed
herself with a fatal dose of phenobarbital. The
Beaumont Humane Society had seized 17 horses,
including several starving former show
champions, and about 20 dogs from Goodrich
a week earlier. The dogs were reportedly
mostly purebred Australian shepherds and
King Charles cavalier spaniels, both varieties
in strong demand, but whether Goodrich was
trying to breed them was unclear.
Reputedly a former veterinary assistant,
Goodrich most recently worked at a fast
food franchise, evidently not earning enough
to keep the animals fed.
The Goodrich case was one of several
going to court in March and April that
involved blurred distinctions among alleged
puppy-milling, backyard breeding, and animal
collecting. Humane society literature generally
defines puppy-millers as persons who keep animals
in poor conditions simply to maximize
profits; backyard breeders as smalltime puppymillers;
and animal collectors as animal lovers
and sometimes even rescuers whose good
intentions get far out of control.