Scally starts Humane Society position
By Staff Reports
Published in News on July 12, 2009 12:25 AM
Justin Scally, former Wayne County Animal Control director, is deputy manager of the Humane Society of the United States' "Wilde Puppy Mill Task Force."
The task force is an expansion of the HSUS long-standing campaign to combat abusive "puppy mills" -- where suffering dogs are held captive in cages and bred virtually nonstop to supply unscrupulous merchants with a steady cash-crop of puppies.
Scally has a background in investigating animal cruelty and animal sheltering.
He and other members of the task force, who have yet to be hired, will work with the HSUS emergency services and investigations teams to expand the organization's capacity to rescue animals from these squalid puppy mills. The task force will soon institute a nationwide telephone "tip line" so the public can report inhumane puppy mill abuses.
Countless numbers of Americans are unwitting conspirators in this chain of misery when they buy puppies from pet stores and Internet sellers.
The goal of the new HSUS "Wilde Puppy Mill Task Force" will be to provide expert guidance to local law enforcement agencies and support other HSUS experts in the investigation and execution of raids on inhumane puppy mills wherever they exist.
The task force represents an expansion of HSUS resources and is made possible by a donation from the Kenneth and Lillian Wilde Estate.
"This kind-hearted gift means a lasting legacy for Mrs. And Mr. Wilde -- starting right now far fewer dogs will spend their lives in misery, without human kindness, without space to run, without decent care," said Stephanie Shain, the HSUS senior director of the puppy mills campaign. "Dogs deserve better, far better. The Wilde Estate will help in this important campaign to see that they get it."
Lynn and John Hook, the co-trustees of the Wilde Estate, issued a joint statement saying, "Lillian and Kenny had a deep love for puppies and despised cruelty to pets. The Wildes would be so pleased to know that their legacy created this worthy group."