Did you know about 90 percent of puppies sold in a pet store come from puppy mills? Do you know anything about puppy mills?
Puppy mills are not only exploitive, they are cruel and abusive high volume production breeders. As the name implies, these are factories that turn out dogs. The breeding parents are kept in perpetual servitude and inhumane conditions.
Volume isn’t the only mark of exploitation. Many pure breeds have genetic defects associated with them as a result of inbreeding over generations for a particular look.
Breeders are exploitive when they don’t test for these genetic flaws before mating their animals and perpetuate defects like deafness, crippling hip problems, blindness, etc. Also, anyone who breeds dogs that can’t give birth without a C-section, as is the case with some pug lines, is exploitive.
The real guilt in all this, however, belongs with the pet trade that perpetuates these and other practices that cause so much suffering to animals and contribute to the national shame of millions of homeless pets dying in shelters each year. Please if considering your next pet, adopt!
Sara volunteers at Animal Friends in Pittsburgh PA and we have teamed up with them to highlite animals up for adoption. So if your looking for a new companion to give a loving forever home to, please check here daily. You may just find your newest family member!