Investigating a Puppy Mill

Today I took a tip to the Allentown area with Mr. Gary Scurka.  Gary is a news veteran.  He was the first wounded journalist in the U.S. war in Afghanistan — a little useful trivia for your next dinner party.  He is also the producer for Fox29’s investigative team.

What brought us to Allentown was a story from The Morning Call covering new information on the puppy mill bust in the area.  The mill, called Almost Heaven, had been raided and shut down over the summer, and on the day the owners of the kennel were to appear for preliminary hearings, The Call ran a piece about how the kennel had deceived dog buyers by telling them they were purchasing a specific breed of dog.  The paper had actually taken the time the money to have three buyers’ pets tested for DNA to ascertain their exact breed.  All three dogs turned out to be different than the paperwork had implied.

Gary, myself, and Elaine (Fox29 photog) drove  up to Allentown to spray video of the courthouse where the proceeding were held.  Afterwards we shot over to the home of one of the dog owners covered in the article.  We interviewed the couple as well as the dog (so-to-speak), and rushed it back to Philadelphia just in time to edit the package and slap down some VO for the 5pm rundown.