Barkworks Westside Pavilion Sells Dying Dog. Dog Died on Christmas Eve

There will be no Christmas joy for a nine-week old dog ( photo of the dog below), a Yorkie mixed dog who died this morning at a Malibu veterinary hospital after clinging to life since last Thursday. Barkworks, a pet store in Los Angeles, sold the fatally ill dog last Thursday to a woman who claimed she bought the dog in order to bring it to a hospital because she believed the dog was dying. She had alerted the store employees that the dog seemed to be dying and was not satisfied that they would attend the dog. She bought the dog "in order to bring it to an emergency vet and save its life."

CAPS, a national organization that investigates puppy mills, is conducting an ongoing investigation of Barkworks and discussing legal action for the distrought consumer.

Evidence CAPS has gathered from the United States Department of Agriculture reveals that the Midwest commercial breeders supplying Barkworks are violating the Animal Welfare Act. The USDA inspection reports are shocking, bringing to light the fact that breeding dogs are living in wire cages, exposed to the elements, covered in feces and some of them are even housed in chicken cages, outside, in below freezing temperatures with no bedding.

On December 19th, CAPS conducted a pro-adoption/anti puppy mill awareness boycott of Barkworks. The boycott demonstration was intended to alert the public that pet store chain sells dogs from commercial breeding operations, puppy mills, in the Midwest. Undercover CAPS operatives were told that the dogs in the stores were "family raised in homes" and that the breeding dogs "are only bred a few times before they retire into families." CAPS declares this consumer fraud.

This was a landmark demonstration for the California animal protection movement because pet stores that sell puppy mill dogs inside shopping malls, had, until Saturday, been immune to the increasing public outcry over the puppy mill issue. Protests had been obstructed by the Mall, which had placed unreasonable limits on constitutionally protected free speech, claiming that the mall is private property. This peaceful demonstration opened the doors of every mall in the state of California to animal welfare activists who will bravely uphold CA Supreme Court Law.

“Saturday is a history-making day for the animal protection movement. Pet stores are routinely defrauding customers by telling them, like Barkworks has told CAPS under-cover operatives, that the dogs sold in the store are ‘family raised in homes.’ The public is becoming increasingly aware of the cruelty of the pet industry. The parents of the dogs sold in pet stores are treated inhumanely, raised like livestock and bred like machine parts until they die. The public wants action and the California stores selling the offspring of this cruel business, after Saturday, will no longer be able to hide inside the malls. Consumers want a cruelty-free pet, just like they want cruelty-free products and greener cars.” --- Carole Raphaelle Davis, West coast Director of CAPS, author of “The Diary of Jinky, Dog of a Hollywood Wife and investigative reporter for American dog Magazine

Carole Raphaelle Davis and Carole Sax, organizers of the event, speaking to Fox News after the demonstration

Watch Video of the landmark demonstration at Barkworks below: