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Old March 31st, 2005, 01:42 PM
amber416 amber416 is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 341
Savannah, i too am split on this one. I usually am all for the school of thought that looks down on contributing to these horrible breeding cycles (don't buy from pet stores, for example), even if it means saving one. But so many rescues do the majority of their rescuing at these auctions so when I had the opportunity to talk to a woman that worked for such a rescue, I asked her about this. She told me that often the only people who attend these auctions are others who are either in the puppy mill business or looking to "break in". She said the rescuers view it as actually doing their part to break the cycle just by removing the dogs from it, regardless of who recieves money. Also, many of the dogs are retired breeders or other dogs not in the best shape. They are going to be killed, the auction is just a last ditch attempt to get something from them but it's really no big deal to the millers whether they get 20 bucks from them or not. The sad reality is they are doing pretty well for themselves, financially (look at what pet stores charge ) and they are not going to be stopped merely by no one buying their no longer useful "livestock". This woman said that they have actually had the miller find one of the rescuers in attendance at the end of the auction and offer to give them the other dogs that would not sell, knowing she was involved in rescue, as it spared him the trouble of disposing of them later. Of course, it's a different story if people are walking into auctions paying top prices for these animals in an attempt to save them...then that seems to be basically the same thing as purchasing a puppy from a pet store. I can definitely see both sides on this one.
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