Breaking: Dog Breeder Charged With Cruelty After PETA Investigation
For Immediate Release:
January 22, 2022
Contact:
Brooke Rossi 202-483-7382
Missaukee County Prosecuting Attorney David Den Houten has filed a felony count of cruelty-to-animals and three misdemeanor counts of violating other animal protection laws against Jack Russell terrier breeder John D. Jones, following a PETA undercover investigation revealing extreme abuse and neglect at Jones’ unlicensed kennel, a four-day sit-in by PETA members calling for action at the Missaukee County Sheriff’s Office, and the January 7 seizure of some 40 dogs kept outside by Jones in below freezing temperatures. The charges stem from PETA’s video footage and photos of Jones severing puppies’ tails without anesthetics or pain relief and leaving small, shorthaired dogs penned outside in sub-freezing cold, snow and mud—and often without drinkable water, as it would freeze overnight—among other issues. One dog was found frozen after dying overnight.
Below, please find a statement from PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch:
John Jones mutilated puppies and left dozens of dogs to suffer in barren pens in the freezing cold so charges against him should stick and stick hard. PETA looks to the prosecutor to prevent more dogs from suffering in this serial abuser’s hands by seeking a lifelong ban on possessing animals and urges the public to never shop, but adopt.
PETA notes that this is at least the third time law-enforcement authorities have confiscated dogs from Jones. By 2008, approximately 85 dogs had been seized from him in Barry County, Michigan; in 2013, authorities seized at least 165 dogs from him in Missaukee County.
