Animal Chronicles
Spring & Summer 2008

Operation Tiny Teacup

by Carrie Harrington

It was close to 10 pm on the evening of March 14 when a cargo van filled with nearly 100 small-breed dogs arrived at the Marin Humane Society. Applause erupted and journalists swarmed as MHS Director of Shelter Services Keri Fennell and Customer Care Supervisor Brigitte Coleman pulled up to the triage area where staff and volunteers readied for intake.

The dogs were part of Operation Tiny Teacup, a rescue operation organized by the Marin Humane Society to assist the Southern Arizona Humane Society with a massive puppy mill seizure. In total, about 800 Chihuahuas, Japanese Chins and Chinese Crested dogs were detained from a triple-wide trailer in Southern Arizona on March 12. An elderly couple, who apparently became overwhelmed trying to care for the animals, were breeding the dogs for sale for up to $1,500 each. Authorities at the Southern Arizona Humane Society described the living conditions as one of the worst they had ever seen.

Keri Fennell happened to be attending a conference in Tucson when local authorities busted the operation; she immediately alerted MHS staff to the situation. “The Southern Arizona Humane Society is a small shelter with limited housing and resources to handle the magnitude of this case,” says MHS Director of Shelter Resources Kim Lanham-Snyder. “After consulting with Keri, we immediately mobilized to help our friends in Tucson.”

Luckily, the Marin Humane Society has experience in dealing with large animal rescues, having orchestrated an airlift evacuation of hundreds of dogs and cats to the Bay Area in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Volunteers were sought to help with the dogs’ arrival, dozens of foster homes lined up, media alerted and community vets approached to assist with spay/neuter surgeries—the response was overwhelming! Meanwhile, Brigitte Coleman flew to Tucson to help Keri transport the dogs back to Marin. Together, they outfitted a cargo van with crates that could be secured for the 880-mile trip.

Asked how she felt after the 14-hour journey, Keri said, “It was so worth it. The Southern Arizona Humane Society was working so hard and just to be there and help them was wonderful. It was also great to come back to so much support. We did good.”

Unfortunately, puppy mills are far from unique. In fact, there may be as many as 10,000 puppy mills operating across the United States. Many dogs born in puppy mills end up in pet stores or sold on the Internet. Because the Arizona dogs were raised in such horrible conditions, some of them needed extensive medical care. Most of them had rotten teeth. Unaccustomed to human contact, these little dogs also needed to learn that the approach of human hands was welcome.

Still, thanks to great media coverage and a compassionate community of dog-lovers, people came out in droves, and from all over the Bay Area, to find out how they could bring one of the rescued dogs into their lives. Having only experienced the squalid conditions from which they were seized, it seemed that these little dogs understood that Marin is some kind of Shangri-la in comparison.

Carrie Harrington is the Communications Manager at the Marin Humane Society.

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