MidTerm Essay #1

Essay Blog Post #1

Puppy Mills
As our final project was being discussed in class, I had no idea what to research. I couldn’t really think of anything that truly interested me until I stumbled upon the Animal Rights Issue. I thought it would be interesting to learn more about this topic because it is not something the “average Joe” necessarily hears about everyday, so I wanted to learn more. It did not really occur to me that this is a really broad topic, so it was narrowed down to puppy mills. As shocking as it may sound, I was never completely aware of the horrible treatment towards animals in these puppy mills, let alone did I know that this was such a major issue.

Puppy mills started after World War II. Farmers were searching for a new cash crop that would enable them to gain more money so they turned towards breeding dogs. Puppy farms evolved into “mass dog-breeding operations” ([ http://stoppuppymills.org/inside_a_puppy_mill.html ]http://stoppuppymills.org inside_a_puppy_mill.html). From the very beginning, dogs in puppy mills have been treated horribly. The farmers did not know how to properly handle the animals; this is obvious as the dogs are (even to this day) “being housed in chicken coops and rabbit hutches” (Sharon Hauser). (If the dogs are kept in wired cages they can become severely injured because wires may not be fastened correctly and may stick out causing the dogs to get cuts and scrapes. These small cages can also hurt the dogs’ paws as they are constantly standing on tiny chicken wires.) The breeders also do not provide the necessary veterinary care for their animals. They are not fed properly, or given exercise on a daily basis. If the animals die their corpses are usually left in their cages until they basically begin to rot.

The female dogs are treated even more unfairly. Their whole lives consist of only having puppies; the female dogs are kept in these facilities until they are no longer able to reproduce anymore causing them to become very unhealthy. To make matters worse, the breeders separate the puppies from the mother too early, causing more health problems for the puppies. The puppies are sold to pet stores around the nation. As the female is no longer able to have puppies, she is abandoned, shot or sold to another mill.

There are a few organizations and some government enforcement that try to prevent the cruelty towards animals in puppy mills. The Animal Welfare Act tries to ensure the proper treatment of animals that are being “bred for commercial sale” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Welfare_Act ). Unfortunately, puppy mills do not abide by this act and the government does a poor job of enforcing it. The only way to completely stop supporting puppy mills is to not buy any puppies from pet stores. People should mainly buy their dogs from rescue shelters such as the Humane Society or the SPCA. As long as people continue to buy their dogs from pet stores, the puppy mills will continue to prosper and will continue to harm animals on a daily basis.

All in all, I have learned a lot from the few weeks I have spent researching my topic. Hopefully, one day, puppy mills will be shut down and dogs will no longer be living in such disgusting and dangerous cages/conditions. I am very happy with the outcome of my final project, I learned a lot and I hope that my classmates benefited from my research about puppy mills.



Sources:

· http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Welfare_Act

· An interview via e-mail with Sharon Hauser from the SPCA of Tampa Bay; Date of Interview: December 8, 2008

· http://stoppuppymills.org inside_a_puppy_mill.html

· A conference phone call with an expert: Beau Archer