This is an excerpt from the official criminal referral filed Aug 31st 2026:
Dear District Attorney Callanan/Sheriff Milby:
By this letter, and on behalf of Coalition to Save the Marshall Dogs, I write to
report long-term, extensive violations of New York’s animal-cruelty laws at Marshall
Farms Group Ltd., also known as Marshall BioResources (“Marshall”), a commercial
dog, cat, pig, and ferret breeder located at 5800 Lake Bluff Road, North Rose, Wayne
County, New York. By way of background, I am an attorney licensed to practice in
California, New York, and Washington, D.C., and admitted in several federal courts.
From 1988 to 2012, I served as a federal prosecutor, first in the Central District of
California and then in the Eastern District of New York, where my duties included
evaluating evidence and witness testimony to determine whether charges should be
filed. About eighty percent of my current work is pro bono work for animal rights
organizations, animal shelters, dog rescues around the world and sanctuaries. As a
result of my criminal law background and my work for these non-profits, I have made an
extensive study of the laws governing animal cruelty in the United States. My criminal
animal cruelty opinions and referrals contributed to the appointment of a special
prosecutor in the case of Ridglan Farms, a commercial dog breeder in Wisconsin which
experimented on dogs and was recently shut down.
After reviewing video and photographic evidence taken inside Marshall, an
opinion from an expert veterinarian, statements from a whistleblower (“WB”), the relevant statutes and case law and official U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”)
inspection reports, I have concluded that the conditions and practices at Marshall violate
Agriculture and Markets Law §§ 353, 353-a, and 356. The most serious of these
violations is a felony. For years, Marshall has intentionally killed dogs — many of them
healthy — by injecting poison into the abdomens of fully conscious animals, leaving
them to die in prolonged agony. There is far more than probable cause to believe that
Marshall, and those who direct its operations, are engaged in ongoing acts of criminal
animal cruelty. I respectfully ask that your offices open an immediate investigation and,
upon confirming these violations, prosecute.
This letter summarizes (A) the governing New York statutes; (B) our findings,
presented in order of gravity and beginning with the killings; and (C) why those killings
and other conditions at Marshall are felony aggravated cruelty. The practices at
Marshall, described below, resulted in horrible, unnecessary and unnecessarily painful
deaths for the dogs in Marshall’s care.
Read the rest of the criminal referral here