I won't go into the whole list of "mills" out there, which includes just about any species of animals. No, today I will focus on my recent covert operation.
Some months ago, a friend contacted me. She had some goats to sell. At the time, I couldn't take them in, we were in the middle of moving and our pens were not set up yet. So I directed them to another friend I had made and knew through e-mail contact. That person bought the goats.
When the seller got back, she contacted me and told me that the buyer's goats were in poor shape, needing deworming and health care. We decided it was simply a matter of her needing a bit of help, and I and a group of breeders in the area banded together to give her advice. We thought it was all taken care of.
Fast forward a few months, and disturbing things begin popping up. There are complaints on Craigslist about the breeder, and I uncover some pretty disturbing pictures on the breeder's website and other information. Apparently she's had a lot of goats die and the ones left are in bad shape.
I contact the seller and we work out a plan to buy back the two does, all the while I am trying to get more information and get something done about the poor situation going on.
We are able to negotiate payment for one of the does, Hallie. For nearly twice what she was sold to this breeder for. The other Delanie, is "not for sale." We later find out that Delanie died.
We are told Hallie is "in milk" and kidded in December. When asked for pictures of the kid by two separate people, the breeder sends both of them pictures stolen from other websites, and not even the same pictures.
Of course this was uncovered immediately, its not hard to trace pictures back to their source. We chose not to confront her about this, in the interest of removing Hallie from the situation. We had trouble setting up a date for the pick-up, but eventually we were able to, though Hallie's registration paperwork was not avaliable.
On pickup, Hallie was underweight, coughing, with a snotty nose and hugely overgrown hooves. She's terrible pale and absolutely terrified. She doesn't defecate the entire ride (3+ hours) home, which begs to ask, how long was she without food? She is certainly not "in milk" as claimed, and she did not kid in December. It's probably she kidded between September and October. Which brings the question, why were we lied to and where were the kid(s)?
I immediately quarantine Hallie and bring the vet in. She is started on a dewormer regimen, gets a hoof trim, a copper bolus, and a course of antibiotics. Thankfully, two weeks later, she is doing quite well, gaining weight and has been introduced into the herd without too much fanfare.
I've tried in vain to get the truth about Hallie. The most I could get was that Hallie's kid died. I imagine this is the truth of the matter, though she still claims Hallie kidded in December. The paperwork as well still has not been mailed.
I personally talked to the ASPCA. I filed several reports and gave evidence. In time, they told me a warning had been given. I'm not sure if they told me this to get me off their backs, or if they actually went out there, but I do know that this breeder sold quite a lot of goats very soon afterward.
Since then, there has been evidence that several other of the goats have died. The goats, by the breeder's own admission, do not receive vaccinations, are not health tested, and many other things. Now, I'm not against someone who does research and chooses not to vaccinate, and many do not regularly test for health problems.
The point here is the ignorance, and unwillingness to learn. We tried to help this breeder, and it was cast aside. Her whole point was to have a "goat mill" and to make as much money as she can off of the poor beasts.
She has been caught in many lies. I can only hope that the recent events have opened her eyes, but in my experience, people like this never change.
Always do your research before you buy. Take a close look at websites. If someone has pictures of obviously emaciated animals on there, don't you think it's a better idea to look elsewhere?
A picture of Hallie, feeling better.
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