EXTRA CONTENT: Sellers at three Kentucky flea markets mentioned in HSUS ‘puppy mill’ investigation

Read the full HSUS investigative report by clicking here.

A report stemming from a two-year-long undercover investigation into “puppy mill” dogs being sold at local flea markets mentions two local flea markets — one in Corbin and another in London.

The Humane Society of the United State released the report Wednesday. Cumberland Parkway Flea Market, in Corbin, and FleaLand Flea Market in London are two of three flea markets in Kentucky HSUS investigators visited.

According to the report, an investigator visited the Cumberland Parkway Flea Market in 2012 and 2015 and found one “large-scale, unlicensed dealer” there who operates a permanent booth set up like a pet store selling dogs, puppies, kittens and other small animals. It has been set up at the market for more than 20 years.

Staff allegedly told the undercover investigator that the animals being sold came from various area breeders. The investigator claimed many of the animals had no food or water.

During a press conference last Wednesday, Melanie Kahn, senior director of the Puppy Mills campaign at The HSUS, said it would be extremely hard to determine if the animals sold at the Cumberland Parkway Flea Market actually came from puppy mills because of the nature of the particular business.

“What he does is he just buys dogs from random people throughout the state who are selling puppies,” Kahn said.
She added that the dogs come from various sources: some could be from breeders, people with accidental litters, unwanted pets, strays, etc.

“There is no way at all for a consumer to have any idea where these dogs are coming from. That was actually something he told our investigators, in fact.”

On Thursday, Cheylin Parker, Media Relations Specialist for the HSUS, provided photos of a breeding facility in Keavy that she said had been “positively identified by us as places supplying puppy sellers at the flea markets in Kentucky.”
She said the suspended wire cages show in the photos were “typical of puppy mill conditions.”

Kentucky has no specific laws regulating dog-breeding kennels.

At FleaLand, the report says the HSUS investigator found a “mixture of commercial and casual/accidental breeders” selling animals. One vendor said a “rare worm” had gone through some of her dogs and that she “went through a hundred gallons of bleach in the last two weeks.”

“This breeder also said that vacationers on their way to and from Florida often stop to buy her puppies.”

The investigation didn’t seem to find any definitive connection at the three Kentucky flea markets it visited of puppy mills dogs being sold. But Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The HSUS, said that Kentucky’s scarcity of laws governing breeding and sale of pets is a concern for the group.

“We have a pretty persistent presence in Frankfort,” Pacelle said.

He added that the group has lobbied for a raft of bills dealing with puppy mills and cockfighting, but have been stymied by “other interests that just want to maintain the status quo.”

Investigators for the HSUS visited 21 flea markets in 10 states and focused on 125 individual, unlicensed flea market puppy sellers. Investigators visited 26 of the sellers kennels as part of the effort.

HSUS included undercover video and photos as part of the report. None of them were pertinent to flea markets in Kentucky.
Pacelle said the investigation was undertaken and the report released to shine a spotlight on loopholes in federal law being exploited by breeders and sellers.

In other states, the report mentioned numerous atrocities, including reputable pet stores purchasing puppy mills dogs and falsifying to customers their history.