Rolling Stone:
I turned to John Goodwin, the director of the puppy-mills campaign for HSUS, and asked him how many puppies sold in this country – at Petland and Citipups and a thousand other pet stores – come from puppy mills as dire as this one.
“Most every pup sold in stores in America comes from this kind of suffering – or worse,” he insists. “If you buy a puppy from a pet store, this is what you’re paying for and nothing else: a dog raised in puppy-mill evil.” The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals posts a database of pet shops for consumers to check before they buy. Input any ZIP code and you’ll see the list of stores that sell pups rather than offer them for adoption. That vastly ups the chances that the dogs are from mills, not from reputable breeders. Another click shows you ghastly shots of the mills those stores buy dogs from. Those pictures weren’t taken by animal-rights zealots, but by United States Department of Agriculture agents who inspect breeding kennels.
I hope there’s a special place in hell for people who abuse animals and another for those who willingly buy animals from such places. I’ve had several dogs and cats in my life (I got my latest one a few weeks ago, a 5-year-old cat named Wallace who is “The World’s Clumsiest Cat”) and every one of them has come from the local version of the SPCA. WARNING: The story includes some disturbing and heartbreaking images of abused animals.
fake news source “Rolling Stone” aside, as the owner of a puppy-mill dog… not a puppy produced in these hell holes, but one of the dogs that was tortured to make puppies…
(note: i didn’t go to the link… i don’t even want to think about it because i’ll start breaking shit)
i’d nuke every one of them and then salt the glass – which would be more humane than what they go through.
if you really want to do some good – take in a former puppy-mill dog. They will be as screwed up as Miley Cyrus on Nov 10th, but at least the dog will be capable of accepting love and will give you love back.
People who buy dogs from these pet stores are evil? So why should the puppies pay the price for the evil puppy mills? They didn’t ask to be a part of it. Should they be shunned into death just because of where they came from?
Its a shitty situation. But condemning owners of puppies from puppy mills isn’t the solution. I get the reason, yea you’re feeding into the evil business. But just let these puppies go unsold and euthanized just because some piece of shit sold them to a pet store?
The whole thing is heartbreaking. Unfortunately, you’re never going to get puppy mills to disappear by condemning the owners and expecting the entire industry to disappear. That’s just not going to happen. Its a complicated, heartbreaking problem with no easy realistic solution.
We also pretty much torture many of the animals we eat, too.
I bought a male Newfoundland from a pseudo puppy mill aka back yard breeder/greeder. This past Saturday we had to put him down due to an unprovoked attack against a family memeber. I paid 1700.00 for him when most quality Newfs go for 2500 -3500. This lady keeps her bitch constantly pregnant and skirts our states puppy mill laws by having some of the dogs registered in other family member names. My wife and I are devestated and have found out through a Newfoundland forum that most of her puppies are sick and have major behavior issues when selling them. These are supposed to be gentle giants and most of the time they are. Because of her unethical breeding practices we have connected with over 30 people who also suffered tragedy due to her. I have since educated myself that research and patience is the key. The other issue is buying from pet stores only encourages this practice. I know everyone can’t afford high dollar dogs but avoiding rewarding the mills by purchasing their dogs is the only way this practice will stop.
The puppies absolutely shouldn’t suffer, but the mills should be shut down and the dogs rehomed through various rescue organizations. People who buy from pet stores are just perpetuating the cycle of abuse.
I couldn’t agree more with you Shawn.