Original subtitles

Come here, Sebby.

There's a good baby.

People think more about getting a phone or a TV than they do about getting a

live creature in their lives.

So every single shelter I know is jam -packed with dogs that have been just

chucked out. And they are very, very expensive dogs that have been dumped.

French bulldogs.

Yeah, and doodles and designer dogs.

Exactly. And the designer dogs are the ones that are such high maintenance.

and very high vet fees, so they get dumped very, very quickly.

Have you ever known a time where there's just so much that needs fixing?

No. With all animals?

Yeah, it's just extraordinary.

It seems to be getting worse. Thank God there are wonderful organizations in the

world that are working really, really hard to bring an end to all of this

cruelty.

Best friends forever, forever together.

Walking side by side happily.

Together,

forever, whatever the weather.

Weather is dark, guys are bright.

Through bumps and downs, I'll be around.

We always have a dream. Did you hear back from the senator?

He did?

Amazing. So we're going to go and chat with him?

After thousands of years of direct companionship between canines and

there's been an evolution.

Now, they're family members.

That's her farm. That's a new kennel. Oh, crap.

And how many have we got coming?

I've heard people say.

Why are you worried? It's a dog.

It's not a dog. It's a sentient being with feelings.

It feels pain. It feels hunger. It feels cold.

It feels friendship and warmth.

They had a drowning tank with a dangling dog cage, and they would put it down,

and they would keep the dog there until the rope would stop moving.

This is like the most amazing place for a dog to explore.

Right. And they're stuck in a fucking chicken cage.

This is big bucks and money talk.

I mean, the AKC endorses some of these puppy mills. Right.

Give me a break.

Petland is the number one store that sells puppy mill puppies in the United

States. They have a new war chest for fighting us.

We know we did it here. We can do it elsewhere.

I don't know if I should say the name, but we're coming for him.

We live in a one -click society.

I'm just going to go ahead and get what I want when I want it.

Yeah, this is the Britishness of it. This establishes where we are, the

location. On a British here, with a British cup of tea.

Perfect. So we're going to go from there to here.

Good news.

Grace is an old friend of mine who runs the campaign called Victoria's Lot to

ban puppies, kittens and rabbits from pet stores in Pennsylvania.

And she just emailed to say, would I come to the state?

and offer my support.

Also, while we're in the States, it would be a great idea to catch up with

Goodwin, who is the Campaigns Director for the Humane Society of the United

States.

It would be great to touch base and actually have a conversation with some

politicians and some legislators,

some lawmakers in the States as well.

So we'll combine a few.

important meetings can hopefully encourage the law to be changed over

I'm Dr Mark Abraham, a practicing vet and animal welfare campaigner. We have

international problem with puppies being produced on an industrial scale in

what's known as puppy farms in Europe and puppy mills in America.

Dogs are trapped inside tiny cages in horrendous conditions.

It's cruel and yet it's legal.

This film is a call to animal lovers the world over to join us in protecting

man's best friend.

Hi, Eileen. Thanks for calling me back.

Yeah, I just wanted to ask you a bit of a favour, actually.

I'm filming a documentary about dogs, unsurprisingly, and I was wondering if

could come to Wales and film you doing your thing, rescuing and all the amazing

stuff that you do.

Yeah?

Awesome. All right, then. I'll give you a shout and send you an email.

See you then. Take care. Bye -bye.

Take us offline again.

Ugh.

Hello?

After all this again?

So boring when they do this.

It's just the life of a campaigner. You know, it's just another thing to

overcome.

In June 2019, the UK government passed Lucy's Law.

Everyone here, campaigners, charities, celebrities, members of the public, to

everyone who's good news.

Well done, Mark.

Well done, Mark. We need more of you.

Thank you very much.

The law was named after a tiny Cavalier King Charles Spaniel called Lucy, who

was used for breeding on a puppy farm in Wales.

Lucy's law bans pet stores from selling puppies.

Instead, you must first see the puppy interacting with their biological mother

in the place they were born, making it much more difficult for puppy farms to

sell their puppies.

In America, pet stores still sell puppies from puppy mills.

Soon after birth, they're distributed by truck or plane, travelling hundreds of

miles.

I'm going undercover to research what it's like to be a pet store customer.

In England, of course, in the UK, that's illegal for a very good reason.

Sadly, you've got a pet shop there, and then you've got a rescue shelter there.

And how many people should be going there instead of there? All of them.

Hello?

Hey.

I've been sent by my girlfriend to look for puppies.

And I'm from England, and I need your help.

I can't take pictures. I can?

Then I can send... That's really kind of you. Thank you.

Hi. What's that?

Where do they come from?

So we get puppies, he's from Ohio.

Uh -huh. He's from Indiana.

Oh, wow.

Indiana. Is that near? Is it far? It's like mid -USA. Okay. So in the middle.

And we just had an Aussie that came from Texas.

How did they get here?

We hired somebody to go pick them up and bring them back to us. Oh, they don't

get individual Ubers or anything like that? Yeah, so it's like one person.

drive around. So it's a kind of long wheel. So that way the puppies are

safe while they're traveling.

I see.

Removing puppies from their mothers too soon means they miss out on a crucial

period of behavioural development.

And the journey to the pet store adds even more problems.

Puppies are much more likely to develop nervous aggression, anxiety and be much

more susceptible to medical diseases like deadly infections.

Buying from a pet store is a lottery.

And do they get health checks as well beforehand?

Yep, they have to give that check across statewide. They do have to be healthy

before they come to us. Okay.

They are coming from good, safe places.

They're socialised, they're vaccinated.

They're just happy and healthy all around.

Okay, so it all sounds very easy. Yeah, pretty much. Very convenient. Trying to

make it as easy as possible.

Awesome.

If you had zero knowledge of this multi -billion dollar industry, you could

easily be fooled into thinking everything's okay.

This pet store even has a guard at the door.

And pups are there, are they? Yes.

Oh, you've got loads of stuff here.

And how much are these guys?

So these two and her, £22.

And did you have lots more people coming in during the pandemic? Because in the

UK, everyone wanted a puppy.

Wow.

And at night here, do you take them home?

Fascinating.

Absolutely fascinating.

No one, if you didn't know about puppy mills or transportation or needing to

mum, you would think that was absolutely fine. She had every single answer,

confident, almost kind of believed what she was doing wasn't implicit in

cruelty.

Pet store employees clearly avoid any mention of the trauma, stress and

deprivation that takes place inside puppy mills or on the journey to the pet

stores.

Lucy's Law in Great Britain is beginning to take effect.

Prosecutions are being made in the criminal courts.

The puppy farms still exist, but it's much harder for them to sell their pups.

Eileen Jones, who works with me on the Lucy's Law campaign, helps pick up the

pieces.

Where would you like to meet?

Eileen drives hundreds of miles on her own every week to collect discarded dogs

from unscrupulous breeders.

And how many have we got coming?

OK.

That's fine, whatever. Yeah.

Whatever's coming, we're quite happy to take them. No problem at all.

When a male or female dog is no longer able to produce puppies, they'll be

destroyed or discarded by the roadside, unless Eileen can intervene.

At the end of every rescue day, Eileen takes these poor dogs to a safe place to

meet their new foster carers and begin their new lives.

He's probably never been out off the farm. No. Looks like there's quite a few

missing. Yes, he's lost a few.

So he's going to need a dental as well.

It's been your job in life, hasn't it, mate?

No more of that nonsense.

Come on.

There we are. Good little boy. Good lad.

I'm heading to South Wales to see the fruits of Eileen's work all funded by

string of charity shops

Nice to see you. And June.

And this is Maureen, and Maureen is one of our wonderful volunteers, and she

foxes for us. Maureen's got some friends with her as well.

I brought Coco and Alfie. Coco came in a few weeks ago. He was a stud dog,

presumably. He was a stud dog, yes, and he'd been there nine years.

It took a bit of getting used to, didn't it?

And what sort of state was Coco in when you first saw him?

Very frightened.

Not sure what was happening.

But immediately Alfie was the one.

Their only safety net and their only companionship throughout their whole

has been other dogs.

They've only ever lived with dogs. They haven't ever built relationships with

humans. So we always insist when they come into foster, they go with another

dog, another confident dog.

Continue learning because it's going to be a long learning process for them. And

they learn far more from other dogs than they ever do from us. Good boy.

Hola, hola.

Are you coming over?

She would have been an ex -breeding bitch.

She's had a tough life, but she's a very lucky girl that she's come out of it.

Relatively well off.

And you're estimating her age at about nine?

About nine -ish, we think. Which means, what's the maximum number of litters she

could have had? She started having litters at maybe two, and she would have

litters a year.

So that would be 14 litters in her lifetime. At least. So we're talking

potentially 70, maybe more puppies in her lifetime.

Absolutely.

I took some photos of her prior to going in for a dental.

Wow. This is years of suffering.

This is a huge mess. A dirty mouth, a diseased mouth, can actually kill a dog

like this.

I would say probably 80 % of the dogs that we have in have to have extensive

dental work.

And in this particular case, it was 24 teeth extracted.

There we are.

Ooh.

There we go. Good girl.

Look at the difference.

Gums are so much healthier.

Good girlie. And it would be very difficult to do this to a dog with a

mouth. So the fact that she's even letting me do this suggests that things

definitely on the mend.

Well done, you.

Dogs from puppy farms often suffer bad teeth and gums, mostly caused by cheap

food and chewing the bars of their cages.

Lucy's law has had a huge impact.

We have less... contact with unlicensed breeders and I don't think we ever said

that it was the answer to it all but it was the stepping stone and it was the

start of changing things, changing the mindset because dogs are relying on us.

Most of the UK's puppy farms are either standalone businesses or run alongside

traditional sheep and cattle farms.

Rescue shelters are full to capacity of unwanted dogs, many originating from

these puppy farms.

The moment you start making a profit from dogs, there are opportunities to

compromise welfare because corners will be cut, and I think that is probably the

biggest. problem that we're facing paint the picture what sort of conditions are

we imagining here very very cramped um very barren isolated from any human

contact loose or automatic feeders the people weren't even coming in to feed

them properly sometimes there's even a lack of basic facilities such as a lack

of light lack of ventilation lack of heating we've had dogs come in with dead

puppies stuck inside them still, that the breeder hasn't even picked up. It's

unbelievable the condition that they're coming in with no care for their welfare

whatsoever, just chasing that bottom line, that pound.

I'm currently working on some new legislation called the Kept Animals

a bill that tackles several important animal welfare issues.

But there are even more problems.

So -called designer dogs are sometimes so seriously unhealthy that they

to give birth and some can't even breathe properly.

To make matters even worse, there's now a rise in canine fertility clinics where

unqualified members of the public are doing the work of us vets.

And recently, we've also seen an increase in puppy smuggling,

researcher Jenny Mair.

Hello. Hello.

How are you doing?

I'm good, thank you very much. Welcome to the crew van.

It's a lovely figure.

Isn't it? It's a lovely crew van.

One of Jenny's areas of expertise is studying criminal activity in the pet

world. I was under the Operation Delphine.

I think there were two vanloads of puppies coming into Ireland and they

hidden behind hay bales.

And there was nearly 100 puppies and obviously it was extremely hot. They

weren't being given water and they were travelling for a long period of time.

Things like that I've seen, I've witnessed and they're pretty horrific to

that scale.

I know there's a lot worse than that that goes on.

If you think about a puppy coming from Eastern European countries, usually

they're coming in way too young to be taken away from their mothers.

They're travelling over huge distances, often not being given any food and

water. And in some cases, if for some reason the shipment can't be taken to

UK, sometimes puppies are just cast aside, just left there to die.

When the HMRC set up a special task force in the UK looking at the puppy

the chances of getting caught are so low because we just don't have the

enforcement. The punishment, if they get caught, again, is extremely low. And

actually, there's so few prosecutions in relation to this. And of course, it can

take a long time for these cases to be brought to the court. So we've got a

interesting but problematic approach to dealing with the criminals involved in

this trade.

Jenny has sent me a link to some new footage from a puppy farm in Poland.

This is what the starting point of the international puppy smuggling trade

like.

Thank you.

One of the campaigners I'm discussing the Kept Animals bill with is my local

politician, Caroline Lucas.

It was actually Caroline who introduced me to the world of politics.

and was one of the first MPs to back Lucy's Law, a law that took over 10

to get through Parliament.

Hello. Hi.

How are you?

Lovely to see you. Lovely to see you too.

Thank you very much for making time for us. I'm well. How are you? Yeah, really

good, thank you. Looking forward to having a nice chat. We're going to have

chat. So I've got to do a clap, right? Because we've got to think these multi

-camera filming. Is that what you call it? Multi -camera filming?

So is everyone ready?

I came to you, in fact, you invited me to Westminster.

For me, it was the game changer in so many ways, actually changed my life.

So thank you. That was very responsible.

Yeah, it's your fault.

There's the Kept to Animals Bill at the moment, which is a phenomenal piece of

legislation.

We're still awaiting its next reading.

It was introduced in September, but sadly the Queen passed.

People often ask, why do things take so long?

Yeah. What does make things take so long? When the government wants to, they

get a piece of legislation through in a day. They can.

Or two days, I guess. A day for the Commons, a day for the Lords. It is so

frustrating. People work so hard.

And what I don't understand is that, you know, a government, any government that

is looking to increase its popularity, why wouldn't you do this bill that

everybody supports?

You know, why would you... The phrase low -hanging fruit.

I know. This plum is right in your face. Come on.

It's... Yeah, it is baffling, frankly.

The kept animals bill covers a lot of proposed laws that will not only protect

pets, but also farm animals as well.

Politicians are looking for a legacy of one kind or another, a prime minister

more than most.

And so to be able to have that on your CV, to say, that is what I did, is there

waiting for him to do it. It wouldn't take long.

It would have support, vested interests of pretty few, relatively speaking,

versus many other bills that will be on his desk.

I'm in Westminster right now, and as you can hear, that's what's called the

division bell.

And that means that whatever MPs are doing at this moment, they have eight

minutes to get to the voting lobbies and cast their vote before the voting

lobbies are locked and they're not allowed to vote. So this is the division

bell, and this is what you're constantly battling with when you're in

Westminster having meetings with MPs or any parliamentarian. Because where that

goes, they're up.

How do you

feel

to be on this side when you have campaigners like myself

running around like driving you crazy?

No, it's fabulous.

Because you do all the work.

Basically, parliamentarians are there at the very end of all of the campaigners'

work. We're just there, we pick up the pieces, we go through the voting lobby

we speak on it in the chamber. So you've basically done all the hard work for

us. Even if you're a person writing to your MP just one letter about an issue

you really care about, that makes a difference because we see it and we know

that people care about those things.

How frustrating is it for you sometimes when you see the kept animals bill is

stagnating, taking time to go through Parliament?

On both sides of the house, I think there is astonishment that we're

our feet over this.

It's not necessary. It's not desirable. We need to get on and do it and get the

bill onto the statute book as soon as we can.

There are trade -offs that have to be made.

Politics is the art of the possible. We have to achieve what we can achieve and

then save something for another day if that's what we have to do.

I can thank you for raising the profile and for keeping this at the top of the

agenda. My pleasure.

First of all, just give yourselves a gentle round of applause for coming to

biggest outdoor meeting we've ever had. 160 of you are here today.

Every month I have the honour of chairing the all -party parliamentary

dog welfare, complete with numerous experts, politicians and fellow

It helps inform everyone with the very latest research into canine welfare.

Research that I share with my fellow campaign friend Grace in Pennsylvania,

who's faced years of disappointment trying to pass her Victoria's Law bill.

What would your advice be to American legislators and politicians in terms of

what it means to do what's right for dogs?

Obviously we're a lot smaller a country, but if we can do that and if we can get

that... across europe then obviously america can do it too and at first they

might have some pushback and some resistance and there are people with

interests but it's still the right thing to do isn't it and maybe look at the

way we're doing things and then you know you haven't got that nightmare of

potentially neglected or abandoned animals but there is a dark side

in the united states very powerful very rich donors are willing to buy support

for their causes But I know that a number of my congressional colleagues on

Hill take a great pride in their integrity, in their ability to withstand

financial, political pressure.

Some, sadly, less so.

That has to change.

Over in America, a small number of states have recently passed laws banning

sale of puppies in pet stores.

California.

Here we are.

You've got Maryland.

You've got New York, which is the most recent one.

Thank you, New York State.

But one of the worst states for dog abuse, cruelty and exploitation...

is Pennsylvania with a larger number of pet stores compared to other states and

one of the highest concentrations of puppy mills.

Something definitely isn't right.

Hi, John.

Hi, buddy.

How's it going?

Yeah, all good.

We are in Washington.

Yes, we are.

Did you get the... Did you hear back from the senator?

You did?

Amazing. So we're going to go and chat with him?

Fantastic.

Yeah.

So we're coming to HFUS HQ, the mothership.

Awesome, man.

Yeah, always wanted to see it anyway.

Is that the president?

Can we pretend it is?

Hey.

So what's going on then?

Awesome. And then we're going out on the road.

Okay. Thank you so much for doing all that.

All right. We'll see you in a few days.

Cheers then. Bye. Bye. Bye.

So it was great in Pennsylvania.

and she is helping coordinate all the people that we're talking to potentially

over here, and we're going to go on the road and visit some puppy mills and

hopefully rescue some dogs.

So it could potentially be a busy few days in Pennsylvania, which is great.

Before I travel to Pennsylvania, I'm going to visit Maryland, where the state

government has already banned puppies in pet stores, one of the most important

protections provided by Victoria's law.

But first... I'm heading to the Humane Society of the United States here in D

.C. Hey.

Hey. How are you, buddy? Good to see you, man. You too.

Really good to see you. Yeah, yeah.

One more.

We have a lot of security.

I understand to be so. Yeah, you never know when some angry puppy miller is

going to come up here.

And obviously they're aware of you being here.

Oh, yeah. For example, when we were pushing the bill in May, our state

did get some threats from someone in the industry.

The Humane Society is a non -profit organization who campaign passionately

animal welfare.

At the top of their agenda is putting an end to puppy mill cruelty.

We're really, really getting into it now.

Petland is the number one store that sells puppy mill puppies in the United

States. They have a new war test. Every franchise owner of a Petland store each

week has to send half a percentage point of their revenue.

to Petland Corporate for their war chest, for hiring lobbyists, for message

research, for fighting us.

I estimate it will be anywhere from $1 .5 to $3 million a year extra.

And last year, they spent about $400 ,000 trying to buy support for a bill in

Florida to stop city councils from saying no to puppy mills. Fortunately,

were able to defeat that bill. This year, they're doing similar bills like

They're doing bills in Texas.

We expect Arkansas and Kansas. They've filed in Missouri and Indiana.

So there's a lot of places where we're going to be doing battle with them this

year. That's just the defense side.

Incredible. Well, fair play to you. Yeah.

The United States Department of Agriculture, the USDA, with an annual

$500 billion, has the responsibility of setting standards for animal welfare.

The phrase USDA licensed breeder gets thrown around in the pet store sales

a lot.

Licensed means that the breeding mother dogs...

can be kept in a cage that's only six inches longer than her body for her

life. She can stand on wire flooring her entire life with her paws never

touching a blade of grass or her back ever having sunshine beaming down on it.

She will be bred every heat cycle because they're not going to miss a heat

and miss out on payday with litter of puppies.

And then when they're no longer productive breeders, as they would call

Usually, that's the death sentence.

Shot in the head, drowned in a bucket.

Here's some little tiny puppies over here, some newborn puppies. Their eyes

don't look like they're even open yet.

Hi, baby.

Hi.

We're here to help you, baby.

I'm pretty sure on the USDA website and the American Kennel Club website, the

advice to anyone looking for puppies is to always see the puppy interacting with

its mom.

So...

Why do they both endorse practices that sell puppies without the mom present?

It's a very simple answer for the American Kennel Club, and they're very

reactionary. They oppose most animal protection legislation that we push here

the United States.

They have hundreds of thousands of members who are small -scale,

breeders, but those people are producing maybe, you know, six or seven, maybe 11

or 12 puppies a year.

They're not registering as many puppies with the American Kennel Club. A puppy

mill will come along and they might register 1 ,000 puppies with the

Kennel Club because they're paying 1 ,000 registration fees rather than, you

know, 6 or 12 registration fees. They end up having a dominant voice on the

positions that the AKC takes.

The AKC, the American Kennel Club, was inspired by a dog welfare movement in

England. Today, they're the largest registry of purebred dogs in the US, and

asked them very nicely to be in this film.

If a spokesperson from the American Kennel Club, the AKC, would just meet us

a chat, either in New York, where they're based, or in Washington here,

got an email back, quite simply says, no, thank you.

So that's helpful.

constructive but yeah it's it's it's uh hardly surprising either

so

yeah it doesn't always come back yet

Half an hour from D .C. is the city of Annapolis, the state capital of

John has helped arrange a meeting with the senator who was behind the recent

on the sale of puppies from Maryland's pet stores.

Ben Kramer, pleasure.

Lovely to meet you.

Welcome to the great state of Maryland, and come on in. Thank you so much.

Cheers.

The public has... No idea what puppy mills are about, what these breeding

facilities, the horror show. They just see a beautiful puppy in a dog

store, in a pet store, and have no idea.

The puppy mill industry contributes very heavily to federal

legislators. And when I say the industry, I'm talking about the folks

manufacture dog food.

the ones that manufacture dog products. They work in concert. They create

organizations with names that give the impression that this is

an animal welfare interest.

The retail sales, they're referring to the sale

of dogs and cats as adoptions. You can adopt.

I think that's an example.

of the deceit we're going to pennsylvania next what would be your

getting that over the line and matching you and the few other states that have

achieved such greatness you have to be prepared to be in for the long haul and

uh and live with the consequences of the fact that um it takes a while i've

worked on legislation that has taken in one instance nine years

to get a bill passed, and another measure that took me 11 years.

And in both instances, people would then say, how did it not happen until now?

What are your dog's names, so I can add them to your... Oh, that list is longer.

You don't have enough pages in that book. But I'll tell you what. Here's

Oh, my words. Look at that.

And Duke had spent his first 11 months tied in a garage.

with zero human interaction the group i work with the doberman rescue group said

look this dog is a nightmare because he knows nothing he doesn't know it's bad

to bite you're our last best hope or he's going to have to be put down so i

that sounds like about a seven hour drive from my house i'll be there

have my dog leash a pocket full of dog treats

And I step out into the backyard, and here comes this Doberman charging at me.

I just, just as I know he's ready to leap at me, I just turn my back, and he

slams into my back.

I turn around. Here he comes again. Turn my back. Slams into my back.

We do this seven or eight times.

Finally, I turn around, and he's now sitting there quizzically looking at me

like, That's not a reaction I've ever had when I've done this before. People

normally go crazy and, you know, and he just assumes that's okay.

I put a collar on him, put a dog lead on him, and start pulling out treats.

He starts figuring out if he does something bad, I'm going to just turn my

and ignore him, which he doesn't want. He wants my attention.

But if it was happening the right way, he's getting a treat.

Within an hour, I go up, I knock on the woman's door, and she comes over, the

foster mom, and she looks, and I go, Duke's sick.

And he puts his little tooth down on the ground, hand him a treat, and she goes,

oh, my God, what has happened here?

And I said, Duke's coming home with me.

The next morning, on my way to Pennsylvania, I noticed a closed

store, a casualty of Senator Kramer's excellent new law.

I'm going to look through the hole.

This is a pet store that previously sold puppies.

And when you see some of the wording, you've got USDA breeders. That means

they're licensed by the government.

That's a federal thing.

Of course, the breeders are puppy mills, and puppy mills are licensed.

There's no mums in this store when it was open. This is all just puppies.

Vet -certified, who knows what that means, what the vets are certifying,

the vets ever did certify anything.

But again, it's wording that's very powerful and it gives the impression

a legitimate animal welfare organisation.

Interesting down here, you've got no trespassing, no cameras, no video. Why?

What have they got to hide?

We know.

But it's just interesting that that's so visible.

And then 20 ,000 customers again. Who knows?

It's misleading the customer.

Why wouldn't you buy from here?

We've got some good news today. We've got an email from the clerk of the ESPRA

Select Committee.

Just to let you know, we have just launched a new inquiry into pet welfare

abuse, which includes the issue of canine fertility clinics, specifically

terms of reference.

In Britain, this is actually huge progress.

And along with the kept animals bill, it will be a big step in the right

direction.

And I'm very proud to be a teeny tiny... part in all this.

And hopefully we'll change more laws to protect dogs.

I'm meeting my old friend Grace.

Grace rescues ex -breeding dogs from puppy mills.

In 2017, one particular breeding dog, a German shepherd she named Victoria,

became the focus of another important campaign to change the law.

Peter Egan, myself, and a few other familiar faces worked with Grace

Victoria's Law, which proposes a ban on the sale of puppies in pet stores.

Victoria's Law has been repeatedly rejected by Pennsylvania's state

Hello. Welcome.

How are you doing? Good to see you. Nice to see you too. Been a while.

Come on in.

Thank you very much.

Lead the way.

How's everything been so far? Where have you been?

Yeah, it's good. We've been to D .C., we've been to Annapolis, Maryland.

Met some very interesting people.

Wonderful. Well, I have been working hard here in Pennsylvania.

Okay. And trying to set up some great people for you to talk to.

And plan to rescue.

Why, thank you very much.

I've scheduled a meeting for you with Representative Jeannie McNeil, a

from the Pennsylvania State House. Okay. And I'm trying to set up something for

a Republican, and I've been talking to Senator Tracy Pennycook.

Amazing. She was the prime sponsor of Victoria's Law last session, and she's

expressed an interest in maybe going and rescuing some dogs from some farms and

puppy mills with us.

Wow. So we've got talking to politicians, dog rescue, and visiting

potentially with an actual Republican senator.

Who has never been before, so this would be a first -time experience. An eye

-opener. It would be a huge eye -opening experience, but then she can speak

firsthand about exactly what is going on in Pennsylvania.

Incredible. So you've been working hard behind the scenes then?

Doing my best.

And wearing purple?

As always.

Just like me, Grace also understands the importance of working with both sides

of the political divide.

One way of showing this is her smart use of the colour purple, an equal mix of

Republican red and Democrat blue.

One of the best possible ways to get any politician to engage with a bill and

then hopefully get their vote to help pass it... It's to get them to see the

actual evidence with their own eyes.

Hey. Hi. I want to introduce you to... Hi, Tracy. So good to meet you, Tracy.

Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.

Dr. Mark Abraham. He is... Yeah. Very cool. Doctor of... Oh, very cool. In the

UK. In the UK, yeah. We're in the UK. I live in Brighton.

I don't know if you know Brighton. I do. An hour south of London. I do. On the

beach. I lived in Jordan.

You did not. I did.

So one of my best friends lives in Jordan. No.

Ozzy Osbourne.

No.

See? Common ground.

One of the things when I tell people about meeting politicians, I find common

ground immediately.

But it doesn't often happen that quickly. Well, first of all... Or

I am not a politician.

Okay. I refuse that title. Okay. I am just serving my community. This was

a goal, to be fair. You're not a career politician.

No, I was a helicopter pilot.

So today we're going to six farms, and I will let you know before we go to the

farm, should you get out of the car, should you not, because every farm,

family, every kennel is different, and I just want to be very respectful of them

because they're allowing me to go and get these dogs for free. That's a huge

deal. When they're giving up something for free, we have to make sure that we

follow through with respect.

This is Lancaster, yeah?

Yeah.

You'll notice if there are no cars in the driveway, if there's laundry out,

that's usually Amish.

It's a very interesting group of people.

They don't teach their children to speak English until they're five years old.

They only speak Pennsylvania Dutch to them.

Grace drives over 200 miles into Lancaster County every single week.

There are around 5 ,000 farms here, owned by the Amish.

Lancaster County is a major supply chain that deliver puppies directly into pet

stores.

Through sheer perseverance, Grace has been allowed special access to this

traditional religious community.

to pick up the dogs that can no longer produce puppies.

Our camera crew and Senator Pennycook are in the second car.

I guess we can turn the cameras on.

There we go. Yeah, see a red light.

Yeah, it looks red.

I've been here.

I've been here.

Is that good or bad?

I don't know.

We've been spotted.

Okay. We've been spotted.

We have?

We're here.

Good morning.

I'm here to pick up the dogs. Oh, okay. Is your dad home?

Uh, no.

Okay, can you get the dogs for me? Okay, thank you.

That's good then, right?

The dad's not here.

Um, probably.

Frenchie. Yeah.

Do they have a name?

Yeah, Rosie.

Rosie? Good morning, Rosie. Have you been digging in the mud, huh?

There you go, sweet Rosie. She had pups recently? No, that's why we're here.

Too many goals.

Hey. Okay. I'll put her in the middle over here.

And she's a mini golden doodle. Yeah.

We can put her right over there if that's okay.

That was nice and quick.

Yeah.

Now I'm swapping cars with Senator Pennycook.

So I spend a lot of time in Lancaster County.

The Amish are lovely people. It's a very close society.

They interact with the English, and we're all called English if we're non

-Amish. But they do interact with the English because they need to

I mean, that's their reality.

They have to still pay taxes on their land, and they have to generate some

income to do that.

There's a rabbit hutch right there. Oh, look at that. Yep.

There's a dog on the back.

Oh, more down there.

Yep. Look at this one.

Yep, there's another one. There's another puppy. And who knows what

in there.

All you have to do is look just a little bit to your left and right, and they're

everywhere.

Oh, boy.

This next one, you can't get out of the car or talk to them.

He's a pretty nice guy, but he gave me two German Shepherds, and there was all

this question of who owned them, and he got really spooked.

Good morning. I didn't hear back from you. I hope I'm not disturbing you.

That's a multi -million dollar property.

Does he have a name?

I forget what they call it. No name. He's got the name. Yeah.

Well, we'll think of a new one for you, buddy.

He has some trouble breathing from that. It's just because he's excited. You

don't hear it very often. Okay.

He's not your dog, right? He was somebody else's?

And you don't have any rabies or anything on him, right? Well, he has

but he didn't give me the paper. Okay.

In the past 17 months, I've put 25 ,000 miles on my van and rescued 700 animals,

and 22 of them were cats and the rest were dogs.

One farm where one of my dogs, the first puppy mill dog I ever rescued, which

was a Chihuahua mixed name Sweet Pea, they had a drowning tank with a dangling

dog cage, and they would put it down, and they would keep the dog there until

the rope would stop moving.

Many of them were shot.

Horrible, terrible things that would happen to these dogs who did nothing

except for just be unwanted or unproductive in a profit -making

Remember the picture I sent of the dog in the rabbit hut?

Yes. This is it.

Oh, shit.

Okay.

Stopped to pee right through the thing.

Hi, sweet girl.

Hey, baby. How you doing?

She came out of a barn with horses right next to her.

Hey, baby.

We're going to check out your friend, too.

Hey.

There he is.

Hi, Mr. Man.

Hi. Oh, my gosh. You're beautiful. He smells very interesting.

See those bottom canines? They're broken. Yeah, they're all broken off.

from chewing the bars, isn't it? I would have thought.

So he's been a stud dog for eight years. Oh.

No more.

No more.

Oh, it makes me so happy and so sad at the same time. I'm like, just want them

to hurry up and be better.

Like, immediately.

I know. Well, he's all one step closer.

Yeah. He's definitely smiling. Yeah. And he wasn't when he got in. No.

You're going to be all right.

You stay with Grace. Okay. Yeah, yeah, cool.

Oh, Rosie, she was expecting the Labradoodle. Did she call you and tell

she's not at home? No.

I thought she was going to take care of it before she leaves, but I can probably

figure it out.

That building down there is stuffed with dogs.

She probably has 50 dogs in there. Oh, my God, you're kidding.

In that little shed right there?

Yes.

Holy cow.

Oh, my God.

Where are we going to put him?

Oh, my God.

Thank you. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

No,

we never pay. We never pay for dogs. Yeah.

Well, the golden retriever just became the second most medically needy. Oh.

All right, now I'm on the hunt for... It gets obsessive. Yeah.

Oh, there they are. Right there.

In front of that barn.

And then this side.

Oh, there's the dog kennel facing that way.

Kind of makes me want to get back to the army stealth mode and just go in in the

middle of the night and let them all out. Right.

The problem is they'd all run back. They don't know anything else.

Public auction, three acres.

Wow. The Amish live for auctions.

Oh, I know.

And there's no way that they will let any English person outbid them. I know.

Their church has enough money. They're rolling in the money.

Yeah.

But they're paying their taxes, I'm sure.

This is not a cheap property.

How much would this be then?

A couple million.

And what land have they got? Just here?

Probably all around.

Probably everything you see.

Yeah. It's so twisted.

It's very twisted.

This is like the most amazing place for a dog to explore.

Right. And they're stuck in a fucking chicken cage.

People always ask me the question of why I enable the Amish.

I'm not enabling them because I'm not paying them.

To me, my focus is on the dog.

And they deserve, and I use the word deserve in this life very sparingly, but

these animals deserve their freedom.

What a good boy. Good boy.

You're a little scared. It's okay. Come on. Let's go. Come on.

a little start helps start now come on come on yeah there we go buddy come

on let me open the back all right there

we

go oh i have to give you a hug you're just so

incredibly Kind to me. Every single time you always help with my gas money and I

appreciate it.

So incredibly kind that she gave you money. They do every time I come here.

13 years of work. That's what that says.

The barn upsets me to see the dogs living there. But they're not terrible

people.

Down the hollow.

I've never been here before.

Yeah, I would never in a million years drive down this road.

Let me get a lay of the land. There are dogs right in there. See? Right there.

Oh, my God.

This time, it's the senator who chooses to do some undercover filming.

We've got to try to find this boy a home. It's been difficult with Huskies.

seems like everybody's full, right? Yeah.

That kennel's disgusting.

Oh, my God, did you smell that?

Oh, my God. And he knew we were coming.

Oh.

I'm told that the owner of the final farm we visit today is proud of his

mill.

This is all their property.

Wow.

Grace has called ahead to tell him about our camera crew. He seemed OK to let us

film. This could actually be a first.

Oh, there you are.

Are you still okay for them to stand in the door?

Okay, wonderful.

I love this barn. It's beautiful.

Isn't it?

Oh, thank you.

How do you see it all?

Oh, no.

When did you build them?

Two years ago.

You were ready for the pandemic puppy boom, huh?

They have electricity.

They've got running water. They have an air filtration system, heated floors.

It's not the common kennel that you see.

It's a state -of -the -art kennel.

It is everything that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania asked for.

when they ask for a kennel to be built.

This is about as good as a puppy mill gets, but there is no comfy bedding to

sleep on or any obvious sign of compassion or kindness.

No toys.

No. No enrichment.

No. That's it.

These puppies face long journeys crammed into the back of vans with lots of

other puppies, all completely terrified and often riddled with disease.

and then sold in pet stores.

Mothers and stud dogs in puppy mills are trapped here for life.

All right.

Thank you so much. All right.

We've got to get going.

We're the first and possibly the last who will ever see that.

I did not think he was going to follow through on that.

And he wasn't even nervous about it.

He sells to a dealer. So they're probably selling those puppies for about

grand online.

Oh, my God.

Are you serious?

Yeah. Oh, shit.

I mean, and yes, it's a nice commercial kennel, but it's still a... It's still

puppy milk. Still a puppy milk.

Yeah.

And, I mean, there were idiots out here buying French Bulldogs for 10 grand a

pop during the pandemic.

And if they were a lilac blue, they were paying 15 ,000 for them just to have a

Frenchie. I don't even know what lilac blue is, but okay. It's gray.

Oh.

I'm a traffic jam.

Here you go.

Victoria's Law, that Grace and most animal lovers in Pennsylvania

want to be voted into legislation, is named after a dog she rescued from a

mill right here in Lancaster County.

She lived in that trapeze -shaped building.

That's her farm. That's a new kennel that they put up up there on the hill

the... That's new.

Oh, crap.

So they haven't learned.

Oh, that's my girls.

Nope, they've expanded.

They've expanded.

Horrible.

Victoria was a magical, wonderful, amazing German shepherd.

And... I had the absolute honor of rescuing her. When she was 10 years old,

had produced over 150 puppies, and she had developed a limp.

And when she could no longer physically stand to be bred is when they decided

that they would give her up.

The man said if she could still stand, I would still breed her.

And as you know, she wound up coming home with me.

And that dog has changed my life.

She was scared.

She was even slightly growly when we first got her.

And she appeared to be broken.

And as we know, no dog is broken.

And if they are, it's temporary.

Is this okay?

We often do get a lot of, like... I'm going to move it as soon as we... No.

No. Oh, she's so scared.

No. You okay, Mom?

Good girl.

Good girl.

All right.

It's all right. You're okay.

It's all right. You're in safe hands.

Mark, what did you call him?

What's this one's name? Peter Bear.

Peter Bear. Yeah.

Come here, Peter Bear.

Come here, Peter Bear. Come on, baby.

Come on.

Oh, good boy.

Here comes Peter Bear.

It suits him.

Come on, sweetheart.

Come on, Peter Bear. Come on, Peter Bear. Come on.

You can see his jaw. His max was quite short. Yeah, yeah, yeah. His max and

mandible there.

It's just a congenital defect.

He was born that way.

Two of the puppies that come from them have a similar defect. More than likely,

yeah.

You can hear with him his breathing is quite abnormal.

He's got a lot of little malodor in there. He's probably a little yeast

infection. Here's a little ground discharge.

Yeah, that should be cleared up with a little medication.

You'll go wide wide, huh?

Yeah. I only have like 20 minutes. Okay. Hi, baby. How are you?

I'm good. Good to see you.

So, this is Dr. Tim Schwab. This is Sarah Spurgeon.

What's up? This is Senator Tracy Pennycook. Hi. How are you?

Nice to meet you, Tracy.

And I think you remember Mark Abraham? Yeah, we met once before. Let's see you.

Let's see you, man.

Things good? Yeah, we're good.

We're having a chat with you. You got 20 minutes.

Go for it. Sounds good.

Come on, sweet. Oh, good girl.

Oh, good girl. You want to go in the grass?

Yeah, look at that.

Tell us about some of the surgical, medical behavior issues you see with the

breeding moms.

I can't begin to tell.

I mean, I have worked with rescues that are taking dogs from all sorts of places

in this area, and I've seen some of the worst disasters you can imagine.

I've seen organs in the wrong place. I've seen organs outside of the body.

seen fractures. I've seen...

Um, just, just disastrous.

Did she have an issue walking or is she just? She was just scared when he, and

he carried her out. So I don't know.

We can try her. Yeah, we'll see.

The first breeding mom I ever met, ever met. It was horrible.

In a plywood box with enough room for just a bowl.

Just a bowl.

No light, no interaction. I will throw in your bowl. I'm not going to clean up

your mess.

And it just, that was the first time I ever went to help get dogs, and I was

like, this is nuts. It has to stop.

What you've described can be quite normal, right?

Normal. It is the norm, it seems.

There's dogs in rabbit cages, there's dogs in boxes, there's dogs on straw in

sort of agricultural buildings.

I wish I knew which was worse.

You don't know how this mom has been used as a vehicle for nothing else but

produce puppies.

We got to name this one.

There we go.

I love her face.

I know.

She's got a very sweet face. I'm sorry.

I'm better.

I'm better.

Victoria's Law banning puppies in pet schools.

How essential is it and how urgent is it? It's the one thing that we could do

make a huge difference immediately in quality of life, in happiness,

in care of an animal. That's our responsibility.

Does it surprise you that there are some vets out there who are opposing

Victoria's Law? And why do you think they would do that?

I don't know.

Why you would oppose...

taking better care of our animals, something that we've all signed up and

pledge to do. No, it doesn't make sense unless you're tied into it somehow.

If you are here on the day when something comes in so sick and something

was so avoidable, instantly you'll get on that wagon.

I really believe that it is our job as veterinarians and it is our jobs as

humans to take care of the animals that can't take care of themselves.

They had no patience for her.

She was completely locked in a kennel because they had to put something with a

lid on it because she kept escaping.

But if I lived there, I'd want to escape too.

She's a good girl.

She's got an ear infection too on this side over here.

She's definitely a little skinnier compared to the other guys over here

And she's got lots of mats on her down here too. Her belly.

Those are easy. We'll take care of those. Get some clippers.

You need a haircut.

No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It doesn't hurt the

dog, does it? No, it doesn't at all.

Hello?

Yes.

Oh, hi. How are you?

Okay. What breed?

Sheba Eno.

Yeah. I remember exactly who you are. Yeah.

Don't tell me you got another Sheba.

How old?

Okay. You know what? I'm at the vet, and I'm just about to go into an

appointment. Can I give you a call back in a little bit?

Okay.

Another Sheba Eno.

I'm getting seven this week, and he's an eight.

Good girl.

That's great.

You just have these silly matchstick things in England. Yeah, we have those

but I feel like this stuff is better because it's powder, so it kind of just

makes it look better.

Apparently you need to go to the veterinary supply store before you go

England. What, for some of this? Yeah, I'll get stopped in customs with powder

in it.

He was really scared of the barn.

Come on.

We're coming in with another. Oh, my God.

He's very scared.

He's the second standard poodle I've gotten in a week.

Really? Mm -hmm.

This is my favorite one, I think.

I've got down.

When a dog is shut down, another word we often use is they kind of just freeze.

And a lot of times people think that, oh, you know, they're just very calm and

quiet. We hear a lot. But what happens is that they're so overwhelmed with

emotion that...

They cannot express how they're feeling, and they feel like they have no say in

what's going on around them. So in certain environments, like commercial

breeding establishments, we see that they don't have any control over their

environment, and so all they know to do is just shut down. In more extreme

situations, a lot of them will be brought to me, and we're talking about

medications to kind of help them cope with their day -to -day life, and

sometimes we can see some more improvement with that.

But sometimes we can only get so far in helping them improve that way.

Hi.

It's all right.

Chloe is your new name.

He's starting to warm up looking at her. I know.

I don't want to let you get too close, buddy. No, but... Just like a little.

Come here. All right, come on. Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, we're ready to go out with him? We're ready. You're ready.

Unlike our friends in Maryland,

Pennsylvania still allows pet stores to sell puppies.

But one campaigner has managed to close down a pet store.

single -handedly using local laws known as ordinances.

Hi. Hey, Mark. Cheryl, right? Yes. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. I've

invited you to see the closed pet store called Brookside Pups that's no longer

with us. I like the sound of a closed pet store.

Yeah. And you have something to do with that, I imagine.

I do, yeah.

Do you want to tell us how and why and when?

Absolutely.

I went for the first time just in May 2022, and my life changed.

I decided that I was going to go to Allentown City Council and that I was

to make a proposal that they enact an ordinance.

Welcome to Allentown.

They're trying to outlaw that in the city, too. Are they?

It was amazing. I started the process in May and in October.

I went into law and then January 17th, shut down.

You know, I thought I was just doing what you're supposed to do.

And I'm just, that's just me.

One person.

So you made the proposal.

You received sponsorship from the politicians.

Correct. And then what happened?

It went to committee.

And then I had to help gather any pertinent information that we could use.

to prove our case, so to speak.

You've got to say something.

You say something.

You know, ask questions, but go into your local legislators, you know,

government people.

They're working for us, so we need to go to them and say, hey, something's not

right here.

How does it make you feel that still poppy's being sold in pet stores?

Well, I have a big problem with that, but I'm very inspired now.

We know we did it here. We can do it elsewhere.

I don't know if I should say the name, but we're coming for them.

Another inspiration for why I did this was because of Victoria's Law, that

nothing was moving forward.

I'm like, we've got to do something.

Yeah, we can't just sit and wait. We've already been waiting how many years now?

Legislators are choosing animal cruelty and greed over what is the right thing

to do.

When everything goes to plan, what would be your timeline for things

happening, passing?

Things will slowly could get done within the year.

Realistically, it's more likely it could take the full two years because they're

bringing people in positions of power who want to stop it and are willing to

it. And obviously having Senator Pennycook and State Rep Jeannie McNeil

board, working together.

gives you a much, much better chance.

I can't really see them failing on this.

I really want to find out why this basic, kind and compassionate

failing here in Pennsylvania.

Thank you, State Rep Jeannie. Can I call you State Rep Jeannie? You can call me

Jeannie. Jeannie, for making time for us today, for Sunday, being in a position

that you are as a decision maker, as a lawmaker.

give you some comfort that you're part of the solution process to remove the

exploitation and remove the abuse in some way.

Sadly, I have the bills written, and after five years, none have passed. I

stop. So I actually just met with a representative two weeks ago from the

and they aren't happy with Victoria's Law. They don't want it.

And it is frustrating. They're supposed to be all about the benefit of the dogs.

And did they give a specific reason why? They said because it'll go to the black

dark market, and the people will still get their dogs online and such.

They're going to sell them no matter what, but if we can...

We can cut down and get rid of as many as possible. I think it'll be a huge

help.

Sounds frustrating that, you know, the majority of Pennsylvania wants that. And

those who have the deepest pockets are the ones who are winning so far. So

far.

Back with Senator Pennycutt, I'm trying to understand why a law that everyone

seems to want, including politicians, isn't happening.

I guess it could be this one.

Here we go.

Hello! Hey, how are you? I'm good, how are you doing? Good to see you.

Oh, hi Sarah.

One of the guys in the house has a chocolate lab puppy and he's bringing

too. I've started like a little puppy crush.

Yeah. You're not supposed to have dogs in the Capitol.

Same in Westminster, but they are smuggled in by various MPs.

Sometimes I do smuggle. Yeah. Anyway.

Okay. Sorry.

Victoria's Law.

So I was a freshman legislator in the House and Victoria's Law was brought to

and they said it hasn't passed in like four.

I was like, okay, so you're bringing it to me. Why? Well, you're a freshman.

So I kind of was like, okay, and I met Grace.

And all of a sudden I was like, oh, yeah, this is my kind of bill. I like

bill. This is a good bill.

But I didn't really – this sounds terrible.

I didn't really understand because I had never bought a dog from a pet store.

So I made my husband drive me around the state to 13 independent pet stores.

And the one that, like, just put me over the edge was in Monroeville, outside of

Pittsburgh.

And it was a dachshund -yorkie mix, so a dorky.

And just the saddest eyes. It had all this goop coming out of its eyes and all

this goop coming out of its nose, its snout. And I said, oh, could I hold her?

And she just literally just snuggled into my neck with this horrible

and smelled horrible.

I said, oh, what's this?

What's going on with their eyes?

It's just a little cold from being in the kennel. And I was like, this dog

not look well.

And the young kid says, she's $6 ,800.

I almost dropped the dog. And he goes, no, no, no.

I've got this iPad.

Just give me your basic details and I'll run a credit check and you can finance

the dog.

And the interest rate was like 22%. So by the end of the time you're done

paying. You pay like $12 ,000 for the dog.

Well, is there like a guarantee?

Like if I take the dog to the vet and the vet says that this dog is sick, are

you going to give me my money? Nope.

I'm on the hook.

What if the dog dies in the first year?

Am I still on the hook? Yep, you're on the hook.

In the U .S., it's called predatory lending.

And it's just, it preys on people that normally would not qualify for that

of a loan.

Wow. And what happens when people can't afford to pay those repayments? They go

to collections.

Which means?

People call you and harass you and try to get you to refinance it, you know,

secure it with your car or whatever.

Or put it on a credit card so then they're getting paid but you still have

debt. It's horrific.

Wow.

We do have a pet store here in Whitehall right down the street and many times

they sell...

dogs and puppies, and they come to us, and we do what we can to try to reach

out, but sadly, there's no recourse most of the time.

Basically, what they say is, oh, we'll take the dog back, and we all know

going to happen to that dog if they take it back.

We had an undercover investigator in a puppy store in New York. This would have

been in late 2021, and there was a sick puppy, and they left on

the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

When they came back in on the Friday, that puppy was dead.

When you've got so much support in the House on both sides, so cross -party,

bipartisan, I believe you call it, yet it seems so few people or organizations

seem to be in control of the outcome.

How do you deal with that? You just hit on the biggest issue in politics in

Pennsylvania. Okay. It is not the legislator that's the problem.

It's the lifelong bureaucrat that's the problem.

As a freshman legislator, I introduced the bill, and I think last count I had

co -sponsors on the bill.

Bipartisan? Bipartisan. Oh, I had a Democratic co -prime, and I was told by

staffer that how dare I introduce Victoria's Law without speaking to her.

She was the executive director of the Agricultural Committee.

She was never going to run the bill.

How dare you?

Because this is the way it's always been done here. So when you asked me earlier

if I consider myself a politician, no.

I think a lot of it has to do with the lobbyists and such. And I will say this,

that the executive director from the committee basically said, I will never

another dog bill. Wow. Yeah.

I'd really love to know why the head of the Agricultural Committee, an unelected

post, insists on repeatedly blocking Victoria's Law.

Sent. The main people who are opposing Victoria's Law are the

AKC.

It's called PJAC, and that's the group that they represent, pet stores, and the

Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association.

Now, not all members of, let's say, the Veterinary Association support

their position at all. There are few people in these trade groups who are out

there representing the opposition to Victoria as well. And their membership

might not even know that they have voted against something that they support.

Six years, which is how long we've been fighting Victoria's Law. That's a full

lifetime for some puppy mill dogs.

They are born, they live, and they die in that period of time.

I've met some truly inspiring people on my trip to America, dedicated

campaigners for animal welfare.

But I'm also aware there are dark forces at work beneath the surface.

doing everything they can to make cash from animal cruelty and abuse.

I really hope that Victoria's Law will go to a government vote soon and finally

be passed to end so much suffering.

Back home, I have a pile of messages waiting for me.

The kept animals bill has been completely dropped by the government.

We may have to start this campaign all over again.

It's quite a magical thing when everyone works together and works the same thing

and you kind of think it's a done deal and then at the last minute it gets

dropped or it gets shelved or it gets kicked into the long brass.

It's incredibly depressing, I just think.

It's frustrating, depressing, it makes you angry.

Welcome aboard.

You kind of...

Mark,

lovely to see you. Thank you for joining us.

What sort of a problem is this?

These are ticking time bombs coming into families. There is really widespread

support in Parliament.

to see this legislation i haven't heard any contrary voices to it it was really

disappointing to see the government drop this bill and i if i'm honest i haven't

really quite understood why because there was strong cross -party support so

politicians and government ministers watching please get on with the live

animals exports spanning primates as pets uh some of those other major issues

that really need to make progress not just for animals but for human welfare

mental health absolutely mark thank you very much indeed

It's mental.

It's mental. And that's what we're experiencing.

And that's why we have to keep on fighting.

Hey, Mark.

How are you doing? All right. How are you?

Good. Lovely to see you. And you too. How was America?

It was interesting.

Yeah? Very interesting. It was all sorts of emotions.

But the third thing I have to report back is grace and the love. Oh, that's

lovely. That's really good to hear. She wanted to hear all about what you're up

to. Victoria's Law?

Victoria's Law is making progress slowly.

Yeah. But it's definitely going in the right direction. And what about the kept

animals bill?

Kept animals bill at the moment, incredibly depressing. We waited over a

for progress to be made and it was just dropped.

Reason?

God, who knows what's going on behind the scenes. Over 80 % of support for all

of these things from the UK public.

Yeah. And they're ignoring it. All being ignored. So what does that leave people

to think? That they don't care. Yeah. And it makes you think, who is putting

strings behind these decision makers?

Hello, Dr. Abraham.

Thank you for reaching out, but we don't have any law in Pennsylvania referred

to as Victoria's Law.

so I will not be participating in your documentary.

Here's Kerry.

So she's not even valuing it as something that even exists.

It's just a bit disappointing sometimes, because it would be nice to learn why

some of these individuals, politicians, organisations, are so against something

that is quite clearly prioritising animal welfare.

What a healthy pup.

Absolute pleasure to meet you all today. And thanks for doing everything

correctly and responsibly in the right way. And have great lives, little pup.

Oh, they're going to.

They've certainly set up for success.

Yes.

It appears that some parts of the kept animals bill have resurfaced, including

banning puppy smuggling. So we keep on fighting to get them over the line.

The latest from Grace is that Victoria's Law is still stuck in Pennsylvania's

political system, with zero plans to put it to a vote.

And in much better news, another state, the state of Oregon, has now made

selling puppies in pet stores illegal.

And just six months after that day, collecting dogs from the Amish, here are

just a few of the little legends in their new loving homes.

with their new families enjoying their new freedom.

Right now, in the United States, animal shelters are at a crisis point.

So I really encourage people who are looking for a new dog to come into the

household, to look at the shelter, visit a rescue, and find the one that you

really connect with.

Petfinder .com is a great place to start. The local shelter is a great

start. We have adoption events at PetSmart, at local charities.

Go there. And, you know, don't always go for the cute little puppy.

Sometimes those senior dogs are the best dogs.

My little tater tot's eight years old. You would never know she's eight because

she acts like a puppy. But she's lovely.

And she deserves a second chance like everybody else.

In an ideal world, that would happen, that people would come to rescues and

adopt dogs rather than purchasing.

But we know that's not going to happen. We know people are always going to buy,

but it's about educating the public.

to know how to buy and where to buy and what to look for, and also to make sure

that whatever puppy they purchase is suitable for their lifestyle.

Nobody needs a puppy right the second you have time to make a good decision.

The people who do take the time wind up on the better side of things and wind up

making more humane, compassionate decisions.

They don't have the opportunity to have their voices heard.

So it's for those of us that care and understand and appreciate

that it's my voice that needs to be out there representing our animals.

Everyone can do something.

whether you're signing a petition, whether you're sharing a campaign post,

whether you want to write to your MP, there's something we can all do from

if you want to campaign and you want to make a difference.

Tell your friends, tell your neighbours, hey, have you ever looked into puppy

mills? Because they exist in Pennsylvania, in Missouri, in Illinois,

It's got to stop.

We don't need...

Drama, we don't need hysteria.

We need hard -headed, logical support that says, this is wrong, we want you

to put it right.

There's many levels of frustration and depression and anger, but we just have

keep going and we have to be positive and we have to support each other

the more we work together, the more likely change is going to happen

If we don't do it... and the public aren't engaged, then it's never going to

happen. So I guess what I'm trying to say is, be part of the solution.

Because if you don't, then you've got to ask yourself, who else will?

I love tea. I love it. So hopefully that's enough to get you through the

few days.

This is the kind of gift I love.

I'm a racist reader. I read three books a month. It's like you just knew. And I

know you legislatures love a rosette. Oh.

And I also have an extra special tea for you. Oh.

Gosh, I can't handle it.

Some of them for you.

There's more of them. Oh, my God.

I mean, really, you can have all of them.

Thanks.

I love Percy Pig. Thank you so much.

Oh, my God. Oh,

thank you. I'll be right back.

Sure.

I love Percy Pig.