Rescuer Hopes ‘Bait Puppies’ Ad Goes Viral

A disturbing online ad came to the attention to an animal rescuer, prompting her into action.

Lori Silva Joseph, the founder of Forever Friends K9 Rescue in Texas, spotted the ad on a Houston Classifieds and immediately reposted it to get help. “HEADS UP! This is what we are up against in rescue. Make this go viral so we can stop these monsters!” she wrote.

The post was appearing to advertise puppies for sale for use as “bait”, the horrific practice among dog fighters to use smaller, defenseless animals to train fighting dogs to attack and kill. The ad specified the four puppies were “perfect size for training”.

After reporting the ad to Houston police, Joseph provided an update to the original post, writing that, “A detective with the Houston Police Department is now investigating this post that was sent to me. They are not taking it as a joke & will be getting to the bottom of it.”


According to various commenters, the ad has since been removed from the site where it originally appeared. As Furever Friends K9 Rescue noted in their Facebook post, and several people have also noted, the post may have been a hoax and made by a person trying to stir up trouble.

Whether it was posted as a joke or not, we’re glad to see that swift action was taken by the rescue community and the matter was taken seriously by authorities.

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