Victory! Dogs Rescued From Breeder’s Kennel After 4 Days of Persistent Calls and Protests by PETA Supporters

BREAKING: After four days of PETA and our supporters calling and protesting around the clock, humane agencies have rescued every single dog from JRT John’s Jack Russell Terriers, John D. Jones’ Michigan breeding operation, where a PETA undercover investigator exposed that Jones mutilated the puppies he bred without pain relief and housed them in boxes with urine-soaked straw. Now, after a persistent PETA campaign, these dogs will finally be getting the safety and warmth that they desperately need.

This monumental victory comes after PETA supporters occupied the foyer of the Missaukee County, Michigan, Sheriff’s Office for four days, appealing the sheriff’s failure to take action. One protester was arrested Wednesday after refusing to leave the foyer. And on Thursday, another was also arrested for refusing to leave, even though she had been told that the building remains open to the public 24 hours a day. The arrests came after Jones met with Missaukee County Sheriff Wil Yancer at the office for some minutes but left all smiles and scoffed at the demonstrators.

On December 3, 2021, we first provided the sheriff’s office with our findings, including video footage and photos. We also offered to assist with relocating the dogs, as did others, but the sheriff stalled. Our findings included the following:

• Jones severed puppies’ tails with forceps and cut off their dewclaws (which have bones in them, like humans’ thumbs) with nail clippers, without anesthetics or pain relief—as the animals screamed in pain.

• Nursing dogs and their puppies were confined to wooden boxes with urine-soaked straw inside a reeking, cluttered carport.
• Dogs were confined to small cages outside in snow and mud. They were given only a few handfuls of straw per dilapidated doghouse, leaving them shivering in the rain and snow, and since the windchill dipped to 0 degrees, their drinking water froze daily. The animals drank immediately—sometimes for more than 60 seconds—when PETA’s investigator gave them water.

• Deprived of stimulation and exercise, the frantic dogs turned in endless circles and otherwise exhibited signs of extreme psychological distress.
• PETA’s investigator found one dog dead in a kennel with leaves and straw packed into his mouth. Jones hadn’t checked on the dogs all day and didn’t know that the dog had died. In the nearly three months that PETA’s investigator worked at the kennel, he never saw Jones touch the dogs housed outside except to pick up the dead dog.

Despite these horrifying revelations, the sheriff’s office delayed action for more than a month, leaving dogs to freeze outdoors and be subjected to torturous amputations. But we persisted, and it paid off.

“It took four days of dog defenders giving up their jobs and home lives to protest Sheriff Yancer’s inaction peacefully, but these suffering dogs have finally been saved,” says PETA Vice President Daniel Paden. “PETA is rejoicing because Yancer finally did his job, and we thank the animal control agencies for seeing the rescue operation through, but we won’t rest until John D. Jones faces legal repercussions and a lifetime ban on possessing animals.”

Please join PETA in urging Missaukee County Prosecuting Attorney David DenHouten to file felony cruelty charges to help ensure that dogs never again suffer at the hands of this breeder:

Supporters like you helped make this victory possible, and together, we can keep taking down the cruel dog-breeding industry. Your role is simple: Never buy an animal—always adopt instead. Please, share this important plea with your family, friends, and other followers.