Late last week, the Voice for Lil Olive production team ventured to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, long known as an epicenter of puppy-mill activity. The main attraction was A Day of Hope and Help for the Mill Dogs, a five-hour event organized by Adopt A Pet Inc. But the filmmakers packed a lot into two full days on location.
Producer Kirsten Akens says they shot footage in the Pennsylvania countryside, met dozens of lovable dogs, and connected with various animal-welfare professionals who may play a role in the film. They also got further inspired by featured guest and film supporter Victoria Stilwell, whom Akens says has “a magic that rolls over all the dogs she meets.”
“I’ve read her books and watched her on TV,” Akens says, “and she is as amazing as I had hoped she would be, in person.”
Without giving too much possible film content away, today we want to share five truths illustrated by our Pennsylvania experience.
- Mills can easily be hidden … in plain sight. Akens says the crew found mill addresses on the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture website and drove by a few. In some cases, she says, a backyard barn, barely visible from the road, provided the only hint of a big breeding operation. “Your average person who wants to purchase a dog, they’re coming into this idyllic, beautiful environment, coming up to a nice home or a beautiful farm,” she says. “Everything looks pristine from the outside.”
- A lot of rescue work is done one dog at a time. The groups actively rescuing puppy mill dogs in the area operate on something of an on-call basis. “They get calls from breeders who say, ‘We have a dog, or we have two dogs that aren’t breeding for us anymore, or that we don’t want anymore, or that we have no need of anymore. If you can come pick them up by Saturday, you can take them.’” Three teams did exactly that on Saturday afternoon alone, saving seven dogs.
- Libre, the worldwide celebrity, is doing great. On Sunday, Akens and the rest of the team got to meet the Boston terrier whose remarkable recovery from neglect has made international headlines. And they’re happy to report that Libre truly is flourishing. “He’s beautiful, he’s happy, he’s healing,” she says. “I imagine there’s going to be some emotional stuff there, but at least he’s headed the right direction physically.”
- Laws are important — but so is enforcement. Akens learned that one of the Lancaster area’s worst puppy millers has been known to authorities for more than a decade. His story goes like this: “Inspectors come in, he has violations. They shut him down,” she says. “This guy basically opens a new puppy mill, under his son’s name, on a different property. And they start the process over again.” (Akens also reminds us that the majority of mills aren’t licensed and inspected to begin with. But that’s another story.)
- The Voice for Lil Olive family always shows up. On a lighter note, Lil Olive’s “mommy,” Pam Horton, was thrilled to meet some longtime Facebook friends. “We had maybe a dozen people who came specifically to see Pam and meet Millie,” Akens says. “They knew she was going to be there and … they kept showing up in Olive T-shirts. It was really neat to see them make contact and meet for the first time.”