Laundry room chat

From this morning's Herald
Not masters of their domain
Woman buys Internet names of puppy mill suspects
By JEFFREY SIMPSON Staff Reporter Tue. Jan 20 - 4:46 AM
A Halifax woman has seized the Internet domain names of a Digby County couple facing animal cruelty charges to prevent people from buying their puppies.
Joan Sinden, who lives in Spryfield, last week bought http://gailbenoit.ca and http://danabailey.ca, which link to a site on her server with information about the activities of the husband-and-wife team with a controversial history of selling allegedly unhealthy dogs.
"I just want to educate people," Ms. Sinden, a self-described animal activist dedicated to stopping puppy mills and brokers, said in an interview Monday. "I thought someone should do it and I already had most of the information together already."
The Nova Scotia SPCA this month laid eight charges against Dana Bailey, 46, and his wife, Gail Ruth Benoit, 39, of Roxville for allegedly selling four dogs that died hours after their new owners received them last summer.
Mr. Bailey and Ms. Benoit each face four animal cruelty charges under the Criminal Code of Canada and four under the provincial Animal Cruelty Prevention Act. Autopsies showed the dogs died of parvovirus, a highly contagious canine illness often fatal in young dogs.
The couple are due in Digby provincial court on Jan. 29 on other charges stemming from the SPCA seizing several seriously ill puppies that were for sale.
Ms. Sinden said she hasn’t had any personal contact with Ms. Benoit and Mr. Bailey and doesn’t know anyone who has bought animals from them; she just wants to persuade the couple to earn a living another way.
"I have owned dogs that came from puppy mills and I have seen the effects of it," Ms. Sinden said. "I see the fact that their teeth are rotten and they have no hair and that they’ve had a really shitty life and I don’t think it’s right for animals to have to live like that.
"While they’re alive, they should have a certain quality of life, just like humans have a certain quality of life. I don’t think that animals are any different than us."
Her website links to information about parvovirus and news clips of the couple on YouTube, including a hip hop-style montage.
Mr. Bailey said he isn’t responsible for the deaths of any dogs and doesn’t plan to check out Ms. Sinden’s website.
"There are so many websites out there now, another one ain’t gonna hurt one bit," he said. "I’m not one bit concerned."
Mr. Bailey said he and Ms. Benoit, who declined to comment for this story, are still selling dogs and have no plans to stop.
"We’ve got proof of what the dogs died from but we’re not bringing it out until after the SPCA goes through with some more so-called charges — and then we’re going to show what the dogs died from," Mr. Bailey said.
"I have video of what the dogs died from."
David Tidswell, 21, of Halifax, said he recently found an ad of Ms. Benoit’s on the classified website kijiji.ca offering a purebred chihuahua for $300. He said he was selling his computer at the same time and struck a deal to make a trade.
They met at an Esso gas station parking lot in Bridgetown on Jan. 3 at about 10 p.m. After getting the dog home, Mr. Tidswell said, he did some research on the Internet and learned about Ms. Benoit’s alleged selling practices. A few days later, the dog became ill and died, he said.
( jsimpson@herald.ca)
This middle aged granny thinks its wonderful to see this in the Herald. Why do I think that? Very few people read a paper from cover to cover. Most folks pick and choose the topics that interest them and/or the headlines that catch their eye.
There is a whole world of good people out there who simply don't concern themselves with animal issues or politics. A story like this one could open the door ( and the eyes ) of some of these folks. For a lot of people, getting involved with anything is like going to the lake at the start of summer... " its great once you get in"
Regular readers of Joan's blog, www.dogkisser.blogspot.com knows that she did this a couple of days ago. Joan is no stranger to animal welfare issues and over the years has tirelessly campaigned and educated and informed from both her blog and her really interesting website, www.charlieloveshalifax.ca ( Although if you are reading this blog, you very likely have Joan's blog and site bookmarked.)
I'm fifty four years old and I have learned that life is seldom written in black and white. But one thing I do know for sure is that both the animals and the animal loving community have benefited from Joan's love of the animals.
Years ago, when feminism was in its heyday it scared the pants off men. As a knee jerk reaction, both bosses and husbands tried to divide and rule. I wish I had a dime for every time some poor insecure fool suggested that I might have a point , but I didn't want to wind up as one those man hating/masculine/pushy/ or in other words undesirable women.
In many instances, women were the worst obstacles to women's lib. Sadly happily married women never worried about property rights until after their husband left and they faced some cold hard truths. Career 'girls' only grew up when they realized they were being paid much less than men to do much more.
Right here, right now the same thing is happening with the animal loving community. Are we always all going to be on the same page? Of course not. Does that matter? Not if anyone wants to move forward.
And that of course is the hitch. To get ahead, let alone to No Kill Nova Scotia, the animal loving community has to get past their differences and focus on their common ground.
Back in my days as a sgt, it was occasionally necessary to be a bit rude to get the point across to some of my thick headed neanderthals. In that spirit, I would tell them to stop stepping on their own d***s.
It was a damn shame when women were often the biggest stumbling block on the road to equal rights. In the life and death world of animal welfare, its almost a crime for animal lovers to hold up progress by bickering.
Over the years I haven't always liked, or even personally respected everyone that I worked with. I'm fifty four years old and understand that some jobs are just too darned big to do on my own. Its time for everyone in the animal loving community to decide if they need to be right or if they need to get the job done.
"Do something - lead, follow or get out of the way" poster in Granny's laundry room.