“A Minneapolis woman who had 30 Shih Tzus confiscated from her home last week has been charged with animal cruelty for her back-yard breeding business.

Loretta Mae Roach, 74, was charged by the Minneapolis city attorney’s office with cruelty to animals and obstructing the legal process, both misdemeanors, after Minneapolis police and Animal Care and Control officers searched her home at 2958 Logan Av. N. on Oct. 20. Authorities were responding to complaints from neighbors who were concerned about the animals’ welfare.” Full Story

An excellent example of neighbors keeping their eyes opened for incidents of animal cruelty.  7 of these poor dogs had to be euthanized due to chronic illness but the good news is that the rest of them have either been adopted to good homes or are on their way to rescue organizations.  One dog had a broken jaw in two places and the rest of them were swimming in feces, eye diseases and every other affliction that is typical of puppy mill victims.

This woman was 74 years old and obviously totally incapable of either providing these dogs with proper care or asking for a hand from anybody.  Back-yard breeders should be illegal because I’ve yet to see a case where the dogs are provided with healthy living conditions nor is there proper licensing and regulation in place to make sure minimum guidelines are met.  It’s these types of breeders that provide those cute little puppies to the unconscionable pet stores who turn around and sell them to buyers with lots of money but little sense or knowledge of what they’re funding.

So kudos to the neighborhood in Minneapolis who had the good sense to see that something was wrong and to report it.  Would that there were more neighbors like these.

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5. Is Rampant Animal Cruelty Finally Getting Some Well Deserved Attention?