Animal Advocates Declare Victory; Kennel Ordered Cease Operations

OXFORD, MA—Animal advocates are rejoicing after a court has issued a cease and desist order against Laughlin Kennels, a local kennel that has long been considered a "puppy mill" by a growing group of protesters in the area.

The Worcester County Superior Court issued a decision on July 6 that states that the court is upholding a decision originally delivered by the Oxford Zoning Board of Appeals that Laughlin could no longer operate as a commercial kennel as it has been.

In the decision it says that plaintiffs Robert and Bridggette Fink operate a commercial kennel and pet store out of their residentially-zoned property at 11 Larned Road in Oxford.

"No one lives there," according to the judgement. "Instead, at any given time, there are over 150 puppies and dogs on the premises and the house is used as an office and pet store for the sale of the puppies, open to the public every day. The Finks purchase nearly all of the puppies they sell from breeders in the Midwestern states, unload them from large delivery trucks that bring them to the property, put them in small cages stacked three high in the basement of the house for as long as it takes to sell them (sometimes as much as four months), advertise their availability on-line, and then resell them to customers who come to the property."

An organized boycott group started protesting Laughlin in June of 2015, and just held its third anniversary protest on June 23 in which more than 30 protestors showed.

"We were determined to keep the spotlight on LK as long as they kept selling sick pups to customers," boycott organizer Cheryl Berthiaume told Patch. "Since Laughlin is in my hometown, I was the one that organized the monthly protests. Our group is and was relentless. It didn't matter if 5, 6 or 7 protesters came or if we had 18 to 20. Our voices were heard."

Laughlin Kennels made the Humane Society of the United States' "Horrible Hundred" list of worst places to purchase a puppy in both 2017 and 2018.

According to the decision, Laughlin was on track to sell more than 1,000 puppies from the location with 1,600 to be sold this year alone.

"The puppy delivery trucks, the trucks that bring food and supplies, the Finks' employees, and the potential customers for the puppies regularly come and go from the property," said the decision. "All of this is disruptive to the surrounding residential neighborhood. It is also unlawful under Oxford's zoning by-law, which prohibits commercial kennels and pet stores in the zoning district in which the Finks' property is located."

When neighbors complained to the town about what they called disruptive activity on the Finks' property, the zoning department investigated and directed the Finks to cease and desist their kennel and pet store operations. The Finks appealed this to the zoning board, which upheld the order.

"Based on the testimony and documents admitted at trial," said the decision, "my assessment of the credibility, weight, and appropriate inferences to be drawn from that evidence, and as more fully explained below, I find and rule that the plaintiffs' commercial kennel and pet store operation is unlawful (i.e., the importing, housing, and sale of puppies and dogs trucked in from elsewhere) but, because this aspect of their business is a protected agricultural use, they may breed, raise, and sell puppies from the dogs they permanently and individually own."

Berthiaume said she wasn't surprised at the decision, and she expected that the protesters would "win." They were "in it for the duration," she said.

"We weren't letting that go," said Berthiaume. "These pups are crammed in wire cages hidden in the basement with no windows or air conditioning. It is and was an inhumane way to treat innocent pups to make a profit."

Photo Credit: Cheryl Berthiaume