Vacaville Reporter: Be Careful About Giving Support to Puppy Mills
Filed under: Pets 911 - August 14, 2008
By Kayleigh Jean
I would like to warn readers about the cruel and inhumane conditions of puppy mills and ways to help stop them. “Puppy mills” are the breeders behind the cute puppy Web sites, ads in local newspapers and even pet stores. Puppy mills produce massive numbers of puppies that live in horrific conditions. Also, when female breeding dogs are no longer useful, they are shot and killed.
Most of the dogs do not even know how to walk because they are kept in cages 24 hours a day. Their paws are raw and bloody from their caged cells, and most have never even seen grass. The dogs that are too big for cages are kept outside in the freezing cold and the scorching heat, day and night.
The conditions the puppies are born into are not only horrific, but have lasting effects on their health and well-being. Not only do the puppies suffer the rest of their lives, but the owners who buy them suffer the medical costs as well.
Too many people think they are “rescuing” a puppy by buying it from a pet store or answering an ad in a newspaper, when really they are supporting the puppy mills. By buying a puppy from a puppy mill, another dog is instantly bred to create more puppies. No one should ever buy a puppy without knowing and seeing where it came from, its parents and the conditions into which it was born.
Many people also desire purebred dogs and think they can only get one through a breeder, which is false. There are many animal adoption Web sites that will find the breed being sought,such as www.petfinder.org and www.pets911.com. So, how can we stop the cruelty and inhumane conditions of puppy mills?
- Adopt an animal from the local animal shelter
- Adopt an animal from a reputable adoption Web site. (Visit www.hsus.org to find a list of reputable breeders.)
- Become educated about puppy mills by going to www.stoppuppymills.com.
In conclusion, anyone who loves dogs and wants to discontinue the abuse that puppy mills create, should not support puppy mills in any way.