@Quercus:
Vegas, can you clarify? Are individuals paying to spring these dogs? And if so, who is coordinating so that money can be sent. It is now my understanding that BRAT is not paying to purchase (understandably)…but if I wanted to sponsor a dog being boarded or something like that...who would I contact? You can let me know privately, if need be. Thanks 
My mom is a board member of BRAT, and is helping coordinate the rescue. As you can imagine, the feelings of rescuing from a puppymill are very very mixed. I understand both sides. If you want to contact her to offer any help, or AHEM fostering, she would love to hear from you.
Her name is Liz Newton. Contact me via PM for her emai. Now, I've got to go because we're leaving for MO in about an hour.
Here is the email that she sent out to the other members:
BRAT is opposed to supporting the owners and operators of puppy mills by
purchasing their dogs at an auction. However, it is believed that if we do
not save some of the dogs from this huge auction in MO, we will be rescuing
more and more of their off-spring in the next few years. Therefore, on a
very limited and organized basis, we have permission to save some of these
dogs.
If any individual is willing to foster one or more of these dogs UNTIL
PLACEMENT, I will coordinate it. Please, do not expect to have it moved to
another foster home if the going gets rough. Please, if you make the
committment to foster one, commit also to the training and rehabilitation it
will likely need.
BRAT is willing to give financial support to this effort!
I will be coordinating the group effort if several people are willing to
help. We will need a designated BIDDER so one BRAT person is not bidding
against another. We will potentially need people in MO who are willing to
assist with transport to other areas. We will need people who can be there
early and do some evaluation of which dogs we should bid on.
This auction has advertised 21 adult basenjis, many of the are females, some
with pups born in December and January. I was told today by the auction
house people that pups younger than 8 weeks will only be sold with their
mother. I counted and, unless the Reeds have done "pre-sales", that amounts to 11 pups whelped in December and one litter that was due in January.
There are likely not as many pups as are listed on the auction bill as
"numbers whelped", which is 70! It is projected that some of these dogs
will sell for as little as $25 - $50, but we must be organized or we will
push the prices higher.
Liz Newton, IL
West Regional Coordinator
I plan on taking a lot of pictures just so others can see what a "professional puppymill" looks like.
All help is appreciated. Have a good weekend.
Ben
