Prisoners for Profit

By Ricky Setticase for Bite Club KC

10 November 2009

A puppy mill is a mass breeding facility for dogs. Female dogs are breed over and over again to produce puppies for the pet store industry. Limited care is provided to the female dogs. Their sole purpose is to produce puppies. Over time the female dogs become spent and are then killed, as they no longer serve their purpose. One of their female offspring takes their place and the cycle of abuse continues.

Those who operate a puppy mill are doing so for the profit. That irresistible puppy at the pet store, that you have to own, which is sold for the low price of 1200 dollars, is what drives this cruelty. Puppies are harvested from their mothers around 8 weeks after birth and cleaned up. A human has never handled them until this point in their lives. They are bathed and sprayed with fragrance to make them more irresistible.

The next step in the process for the puppy is to be inspected by a broker. The broker is the middle person between the puppy mill and the pet store. One of the largest brokers in the United States is Hunte Corporation in Springfield, Missouri. (http://www.thehuntecorporation.com/default.html) So from the mill the puppies are packaged into a shipping container and sent to the broker. This transit will kill some; others will be rejected by the broker thus resulting in their death or being sold to a research facility where they will endure continued suffering; and the ones that pass the test go on to the pet store.

Petland is a pet store franchise that obtains their puppies from Hunte and thus puppy mills. They sell the potential customer on a pure breed puppy from good breeding stock. There is no reference to the puppy mill other than that the breeder is licensed by the USDA. USDA licensed puppy mills are still puppy mills. The USDA does not prioritize the inspection of puppy mills to compliance of the Animal Welfare Act…the only law that protects companion animals. The puppy will have “papers” so they can be registered with the American Kennel Club. These “papers” mean nothing outside of the AKC but that does not stop people from sending in their membership fees. The customer does not have to know anything about dogs to adopt from the pet store. They just have to pay the bill and they can take the puppy home. And home can mean anything.

Man’s Best Friend

The dog, known for loyalty, willingness to please, and unconditional love, has been standing by mans side since being domesticated. But mans treatment of dog has been the opposite. An estimated 4 million dogs are euthanized in America annually, yet over 5,000 breeders registered with USDA are churning out puppies. Each female can have 2 litters per year, between 6 to 10 puppies per litter. Theoretically, if each of the 5,000 breeders has 50 females the total number of puppies is 3 to 5 million annually.

Is it ethical for man to continue breeding dog while there remains euthanasia?

Breeders say they love the breed. If it were for love of breed then they would assist animal shelters with adoptions, as 25% of shelter dogs are pure bred. Breed registries, like American Kennel Club (AKC), make money from fees owners pay to say their dog has “papers.” These “papers” however mean nothing outside the inner circles of the registries.

The Humane Society of the United States’ (HSUS) November 2008 undercover investigation found Petland, America’s largest retailer of pure bred puppies, obtained them from puppy mills. Puppy mills, as seen on Oprah April 2008, are mass breeding facilities churning out millions of puppies annually where dog’s care is second to breeder’s profits. The United States Department of Agriculture, the government body responsible for inspection of puppy mills under the Animal Welfare Act, are negligent in their duties. The inspection process is under funded because the economic hand of the breeding lobby is powerful.

Therefore, animal shelters, breed rescue groups, and other compassionate people who truly love dog provide the love and care absent in the breeding industry. These non-profits seek to rescue those dogs deemed unprofitable by breeders. Several high profile rescues from puppy mills have made national news.

As I see it, until we eliminate euthanasia of dogs, there needs to be an all out ban of dog breeding. The issue is not preservation of breed but ethical treatment of species domesticated by man. And when euthanasia is eliminated and breeding is again allowed, there should be no monetary profit in breeding dog. But for now taxpayers, in the form of animal control, and compassionate citizens, in the form of non-profits, will pay the bill for the lack of ethics demonstrated in the dog breeding industry.

By today’s end nearly 11,000 dogs will be euthanized.

Organizations Biting Back at Puppy Mills

National:

In Defense of Animals
http://www.idausa.org/campaigns/puppymills/index.html
Humane Society of USA
http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/campaigns/stop_puppy_mills/
Companion Animal Protection Society
http://www.caps-web.org/

Local:

KC Citizens for Canine Causes
http://www.puppymillprisoners.org/
Missouri Alliance for Animal Legislation
http://www.maal.org/Puppy-Mills.asp

Watch the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIjanhKqVC4 and go vegan. Do it for your health, for nonhuman animals and for the Earth!

To support or undertake animal rights and liberation activism in the Kansas City area, visit Bite Club of KC at http://biteclubkc.wordpress.com/.