Puppy Mills Disgust me

[LynLyn]

I've been watching videos of puppy mills to educate myself and I just can't do it anymore. I'm so sad for those animals, and so angry at those pathetic excuses for human beings. How how how? can a person do this? constantly? I want to take all those babies home and nurse them back to health, and give them a better life. Sadly and unfortunately I cannot do that, and it kills me.

Why are these videos that I watch not on regular T.V. to inform the public? Shown in schools so kids understand why it's a terrible idea to want that cute puppy at the petstore?

Why is the government not doing more about this? Are animals lives worth less than humans? or is it that they don't pay taxes so they aren't any more important?

I just want to cry....

sorry just needed that rant..:sad:

[TaraJeanne]

I agree its disgusting what they do to dogs in a puppy mill and its terribley sad that the public is so poorly informed on what goes on in those places its the worst kind of cruelty....how is it that they are allowed to continuallty opperate is beyond me and why soemthing isnt done about it but I think that if we all talk to people we know about it and explain to them why they shouldnt buy a puppy form the pet store then we are all doing our part to ensure htat somthing is done.. word of mouth can be a powerful tool and bit by bit we can all make a huge difference
great conversation starter by the way !!!

best wishes

[mummummum]

Maybe when you come across a pet store that sells puppies, you could give them the website addresses/ links. Ask your Vet if you can put up a notice "So You're Thinking of Getting a Puppy..." with the links(s) listed, encouraging people to buy from reputable breeders on which they have done a great deal of research or even better, adopt a rescued dog.

Sometimes the only thing that makes me feel better about the state of the world is to do something to change it, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant because sometimes small changes ripple into bigger changes.

[springermom0406]

It is very frustrating and extremely sad.

When mafia was here we were in the mall and saw a new pet store... it was horrible. And of course the first dog I saw was an english springer.. so I was almost in tears watching this poor baby in a tiny cage. Lots of the pups were spinning in circles in their tiny cages. It was pathetic.

The only thing we can do is educate people about the mills and keep them from buying in pet stores. There used to be a really bad one here, I'd go in all the time and if people were there looking I'd make comments (loud enough so everyone could hear) about the poor babies coming from puppy mills. The owners would get mad.... and then others starting handing out flyers about mills at the groomers across the street. They adventually shut down. So thats a few hundred less dogs a year needing to be produced....

[Frenchy]

M3X is right, you can't save them all but you can inform as much people you can. Everyone in my family,my friends,my coworkers are probably fed up about hearing me talking about this but at least they know better now. And I'm sure some of them told other people so talk talk talk about it.

[rainbow]

We have to get the animal cruelty laws changed in Canada. The SPCA keeps lobbying the government but seem to get nowhere. :sad:

[Golden Girls]

Originally Posted by LynLyn

Why is the government not doing more about this? Are animals lives worth less than humans? or is it that they don't pay taxes so they aren't any more important?

Our gov't doesn't want any changes regarding puppy mills as they get 15% tax when millers sell to pet stores than another 15% on every puppy sold not to mention a billion $ industry. Ahem what was the question again

I asked our Montreal SPCA what we as a whole can do about our horrible puppy mill industry here in Quebec and what he has done to try and change our laws - this is his reply:

Dear Wendi,
First and foremost one has to understand the present situation to be able to fight it properly. At the SPCA we have always been in the forefront of all battles to close these puppy mills. I’m sure you will understand the frustration of seeing some animal right activist accusing us of doing nothing and even worse implying that we condone the present situation.

After 13 years of battling the Quebec government to enact the long awaited animal welfare act, and after exposing the situation many many times in the media, the government caved in and in December 2004 it finally enacted a lame law that had neither rules nor regulations. This allowed the government to appear “pro-active” while making sure the industry that generates 1 billion dollars a year in Quebec alone would not be disturbed.

To add insult to injury, they created and mandated a new para-governmental agency called “Anima Québec” and made sure to staff it with people with the same frame of mind (statu quo) and give them the “exclusive” mandate to apply this law! The same law in Ontario is called the “SPCA Act” and is entrusted to 231 agents and inspectors of the Ontario SPCA. Here, in Quebec, the SPCA is excluded from applying this law which would permit our inspectors to enter any commercial operation without having to obtain a warrant. The only tool we are left with is 2 articles of the Canadian Criminal Code that do not forbid the operation of a puppy mill. In order to prosecute under the Criminal Code, you have to prove beyond the shadow of a doubt the “intention” of being cruel by the suspect. The same way as chicken farming, veal production, slaughtering of horses for meat is perfectly legal as far as the law is concerned; there are no provisions to stop puppy mills from operating.

It is then vital to create in Quebec norms and standards for the pet industry that would make it impossible for the operation of puppy mills and by which all of the industry would have to adhere to. This is where we “hit” a wall! The government realizes that the more puppies and kittens are produced, the more consumers will purchase them and more revenue is generated from the sale of accessories and food to nourish them. A recent statistic (November 13th, 2006) has shown that there are more pets in Quebec households than children! It gives you an idea of the size of the industry.

Now if all animal lovers accepted the fact that we can have differences of opinion on certain issues, but that we are all working for the same goal: the improvement of the conditions of the animals in Quebec, and if all animal lovers reunited to present a common front facing the issue of the puppy mills and their problems, rather than trying desperately to make each other look bad, incompetent, inadequate, etc., we could then reunite with the same petition to the Quebec National Assembly forcing the issue rather than battling each other.

I am a firm believer in the principle of loosing a battle to win a war. If the government had the assurance that animal lovers whether belonging to the SPCA or to any other animal organization were adamant in closing every Quebec puppy mill, thus depriving the government of much needed income, they would ignore our request while managing to look concerned (present situation). However, if all animal lovers agreed to present a common front requesting the mandate of inspection to be given to the inspectors of the SPCA and it’s affiliates across Quebec, and if the government had the assurance that we wanted to elevate the norms and standards one step at a time, forcing breeders to improve their operations, all the while the government is still receiving its revenues, then we would have succeeded the first of many steps towards the annihilation of puppy mills in Quebec.

Instead the “in fights” between so called animal lovers and their constant bickering was the best excuse the government had to create their own entity that they can control totally without having to face any of us and our divergent opinions. Again, any media wanting to expose the SPCA will find hundreds of so called animal lovers ready to make us look bad. We are never judged on our accomplishments but rather in their opinion on what we should have done!

In conclusion, the SPCA annual general meeting is open to everyone. We have sent over 3,000 invitations to all the members offering them to attend. But considering that most SPCA donors (100,000+) and members feel that we are doing excellent work, the majority of them will carry on their daily lives and will not show up. On the other hand, 2 or 3 people having an axe to grind with the administration or the Executive Director, will chose this opportunity to highjack the meeting and make any or all statements (mostly false) to try to affect us negatively. At this last meeting (November 9, 2006) a person (****) claimed publicly for all to hear that the San Francisco SPCA spayed and neutered over 9,000 animals a month and that we should be ashamed of allowing a non spayed or neutered animal out of the shelter even if they were given an appointment to return for sterilization (last year alone our clinic spayed and neutered over 10,000 animals). Needless to say anyone can verify by visiting the San Francisco SPCA web site that their total intake of animals in one year is fewer than 4,000 animals thus making it impossible to spay and neuter 108,000 a year?????? We are also accused of not being a no kill shelter when such or such other operation are. What is not said is that these so called no kill shelters save a nominal fraction of the animals saved by us. We cannot save a killer dog or a wild cat that we cannot place in a household. Obviously, we could play games by claiming like others in very small print that we do not kill “any adoptable animals” without defining what an adoptable animal is. We have chosen not to play a game of blue smoke and mirrors. And today we are paying the price because we have chosen to act responsibly.

These are the types of comments and accusations we are faced with on a daily basis. Considering where the SPCA was 12 years ago and where it is today, we find it hard to constantly having to face accusers. I realize this is probably not what you expected but this is the harsh reality.

Thank you for your concern.
Pierre Barnoti
SPCA

Our animals are in a very sad state here alone in Quebec, I wonder if everyone united - could we make a difference, any comments?