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SPCA Tampa Bay backlash
Regina Gonzalez reports.
LARGO, Fla. - A partnership between the SPCA of Tampa Bay, a breeder broker and retail shop is getting backlash from animal advocates and animal rescue groups across the country.
Earlier this month, in a now-deleted video posted to social media, SPCA Tampa Bay CEO Martha Boden announced its new "For All Dogs" pilot program, involving an unusual partnership between two Sunshine Puppies retail shops, and Missouri-based breeding broker, Pinnacle Pet.
"There are two pieces to it," Boden explained. "One piece is that we're providing veterinary care for the puppies in the two stores here in Pinellas County that are run as Sunshine Puppies."
The other part involves transferring retired purebred breeding dogs from other states to its Largo shelter through Pinnacle Pet, which will then be adopted out.
"Those adult dogs are going to spend their entire lives breeding when they're four or five or six years old, they're ready to move on to the next phase of their lives," Boden shared.
Martha Boden with representatives from Sunshine Puppies and Pinnacle Pet.
Pinnacle Pet CEO Chris Fleming told FOX 13 he met Boden at a dog acquisition summit in Chicago in June 2022, and while sitting at a table together, mentioned that he was in Pinellas County to bring a lot to bring pups to Sunshine Puppies. The two began talking about how she could get more involved in the lives of the dogs he brings into town.
He said the program will not financially benefit him or SPCA Tampa Bay.
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"There is no skin in the game for Martha," Chris stated. "There's no money changing hands. You know, she's not purchasing anything. Nobody's selling her anything. It's dogs that are being given to the adoption program or who were transferred to her."
Boden said her team spent the last year visiting the breeding facilities Pinnacle works with and that the shelter accepts only about one or two purebreds every other week.
Dogs play with man courtesy of Pinnacle Pet.
Since testing the program from May to the present, she said 22 dogs have been adopted out, often within the first 48 hours.
"It's a pilot, so we're not really looking for huge numbers. What we're really looking for is what we can learn from that program. So once a week, because Pinnacle is bringing dogs to Sunshine Puppies, we have the opportunity to put a retired breeding dog on that same transport and bring that animal here," Boden said.
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However, the pilot program has outraged many animal welfare advocates.
In the last few weeks, local and national rescues have released statements criticizing and denouncing the partnership, stressing that it condones doing business with high-volume puppy mills.
"The fact is the majority of these USDA licensed commercial dog breeding kennels are nothing more than puppy mills, said John Goodwin, senior director of the Humane Society of the United States' 'Stop Puppy Mills Campaign.'
Sherry Silk petting a puppy.
Upon learning of the partnership, Goodwin's team immediately began compiling documents showing unsanitary and harsh conditions at some of the breeding facilities where Pinnacle Pet and Sunshine Puppies acquires its dogs.
"We can look at all of the inspection reports and tell you that they are almost all show that there are places where dogs are not getting the veterinary care they deserve or there are sanitary problems," Goodwin added. "A puppy mill can keep a dog in a cage that is only six inches longer than her body. For her entire life, she might never set foot on a blade of grass. She almost certainly will be bred every cycle, and all of that is perfectly legal under the USDA regulations. So, when you see these inspector poor showing violations, these are people who couldn't even meet those standards, those bare minimum survival standards."
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Organizations like the Companion Animal Protection Society have been investigating Sunshine Puppies & Pinnacle Pet for years and have a whole case study plus a video of overcrowded breeding facilities.
Meanwhile, Bay Area shelter leaders, like Humane Society Tampa Bay's CEO Sherry Silk, also stressed that there are more than enough strays and abandoned animals that need a loving home in this community. Constant intakes have caused an overcrowding crisis for years.
File: Puppy
"Of all times, all times to start a program like this...it doesn't make any sense because shelters are just so full and that can result in, for some shelters, euthanasia of too many pets," Silk explained.
Boden argued that no animal has been turned away because of this pilot program. She says her team will evaluate its volume on a week-to-week basis. She said for the last few weeks, the pilot program has been paused, so they can take transfers strays from areas in Florida impacted by Hurricane Idalia.
Petitions with thousands of signatures are calling for Martha to step down from her role. She's also been asked to resign from several boards she sits on, including the Florida Association of Animal Welfare Organizations, in which Sherry Silk holds the position of president.
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"This is a terrible idea, in my opinion, and it sets back what animal welfare is trying to do," Silk stated. "None of us can go along with what's happening. So, we did ask for her to resign. And she did resign from our organization," Silk said.
When asked about her resignation, Boden said she'd been considering retiring from the board for months, and said the decision to resign was due to "other reasons."
A petition to stop SPCA partnership has been signed by thousands.
Silk and many rescue groups who've worked with her, say Boden was once a pillar of advocacy for shutting down puppy mills and stores and called the program a betrayal. Silk says she believes they're going to lose donors, and support from the community if the program is not stopped.
Last year, Pinellas County commissioners officially voted to ban new retail pet stores from opening, but six existing stores were grandfathered in, including Sunshine Puppies.
Sunshine Puppies puppy owner Dan Cohn said he's used to people trying to shut him down.
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"The animal welfare organizations, the community, they've done a lot," he said. These are they're very good people. These are not bad people. They have incredible intentions, and they want to do the right thing and they want to close down puppy mills, and so do I. But their intentions have been misdirected to a certain degree."
File: Dog in cage.
Despite the controversy, Boden and her two new partners are standing their ground in trying to work together.
SPCA Tampa Bay is now encouraging the public to share their input on the pilot program through an online survey it will use to decide what comes next for the program.
Boden said the feedback overall on social media so far has not been constructive, adding that her team has received threatening phone calls and emails.