Has anyone heard about puppy mills?

I recently have learned about Puppy Mills and their Horrors. I have posted photos of these tortured animals on my profile- VERY GRAPHIC PHOTOS- but I feel like people need to know! Does anyone else feel like this needs to be brought into the public...

spotlight? Why haven't I heard about this on CNN or on local news channels?

Yup.

I work at the Humane Society in my town. We are an adoption-guarantee organization. I spend my days with homeless animals. And therefore educate myself greatly on puppy mills and pet stores and the horrors of them. The Humane Society of the United States recently did an undercover video expose on illegal puppy mills all over the country, particularly in the North East.

Something even worse than puppy mills (if possible) is the average County animal shelter. In Miami (where I live), 30,000 dogs and cats are taken in every year, and 5,000 are adopted. That's 25,000 healthy dogs and cats who are put to sleep for population control. It makes me sick to my stomach.

(this is my passion, in case you didn't notice .

OMG I saw your pics. That's so sad I never had any idea! I mean, I always thought puppy mills was just a term. I can understand euthanizing animals (that's sad, too), but torturing them their entire lives? Can you imagine being born, only to be tortured to death?

Thank you so much for educating.

Puppy mills ARE all over the news and in the papers...I see them all the time. I'm not sure what news you are watching. They are horrible. I did not go look at your pictures, because I'm sure it would make me really sad.

They've only really been all over the news lately because of that huge bust in Virginia. It doesn't get consistent exposure.

Puppy Mills have not been on my news here in Europe. I just Googled the term and have found out a bit about it - they're big dog breeding 'factories'. Could you explain about the 'torture', please? I didn't discover that bit...

Check out my profile- there are graphic pictures of what they do to the animals.

The mothers live in tiny wire cages, stacked on top of one another, in dark, windowless rooms. No contact with people or anything besides their own puppies.

They are bred by the time they are six months old...bred so often that their internal organs grow together.

And if a dog dies in a cage and is not removed, the body fluids of the decaying dog falls on to the ones below.

Are you sure you actually researched it???

Nope, just Googled it briefly. I'll look at your profile now. Thanks.

Dogs are often debarked by having metal pipes shoved down their throats to rupture their vocal chords.

Many dogs lose their feet and legs when they are caught in the wire floors in the cages, and are cut off as the dogs try to free themselves.

These cages are often outside, so they freeze in the winter and the puppies basically cook on the wire cages in the summer.

Many times, they are so starved that they gnaw off the legs and ears of other dogs...those dogs are left to bleed to death or die from infections.

That's basically torture

Those photos and your facts are very disturbing. Thanks for letting us know. Are these puppy mills in other countries too, do you know?

They are all around the world, although the ones I have been researching are in America. Wisconsin, Missouri, Oklahoma...they are more prevalent in the Midwestern states.

I really appreciate your comments.

It's distressing that the world has come to this- people torturing animals for no reason (well, even having a reason to torture them is awful).

A friend and I are going to investigate a local breeder tomorrow. I pray it isn't a puppy mill...if you see a special report on CNN...that's me, fleeing with a car full of puppies to Canada.

I will keep everyone posted. And thanks for all the nice mail and comments, everyone!

I find it really worrying. Some of my family are farmers, and they believe it would be mad to mistreat your animals, even if you were cruel enough to want to. Their reasoning is that only healthy and well-kept animals breed well. So it's shocking to discover that other people don't follow this - OK, I know it happens, but I'm still shocked every time.

that makes me sad =( i'm a HUGE animal lover (the ones that cry over road kill) I can't help it i guess i'm a loser, I just dont think ppl should mistreat animals.

Heinzer20, you are not a loser!

Consider...Human nature is predisposed to violence.

Freud coined the term Thanatos, or the death instinct to refer to man's inability to sustain peace.

Therefore, men (and women) who feel empathy and kindness for fellow animals are arguably MORE EVOLVED than those who torture and kill.

We feel responsible for all the misery our species has caused.

The buyers of puppy mill pups are the pet stores...so if you can't actually DO anything to prevent people from breeding dogs for profit, you can passively show your outrage by NOT BUYING ANY ANIMAL FROM A PETSTORE!! (and gawd, is it hard to see a sad face, knowing where it came from, and not feeling sorry enough to take it outta there)...but if there's no market, the puppy mills would have to close...they're only in it for the money.

phrannie

PLEASE VISIT furisdead.com goveg.com and unchainyourdog.org watch some of those videos... youll be surprised.

Attentionham, thanks for bringing this to everyones attention. So many people are not aware of where pet store puppies come from. If anyone knows of ways of how to bring this to the publics eye more periodically, can you please keep me in the know. What about PETA.

I also found a website from a woman from Seattle who has petitioned a band against pit bulls. Denver has already passed a law which has caused the removal of hundreds of pits from their owners and euthanized. Not to mention all those in animal shelters too. Without reagrds to whether or not they had a history of violence. Does this reaek of genocide?

yes puppies in pet store usually come from puppy mills or pet broker. Not all puppy mills are run like that. You are showing extreme cases. And yes they are terrrible that someone could treat an animal like that. But they consider lots of things puppy mills they aren't anything like that. I just want people to know that all puppies sold in pet stores do not come from places like that. Anyone who breeds dogs and has more than 5 dogs no matter how well they are taken care of in some states if not registered as a kennel are considered puppy mills.

I have to disagree with that, fgsg1234.

I researched what constitutes a Puppy Mill, and it includes inhumane treatment, living conditions, and severe neglect. I've done my homework- and it keeps me up most nights.

There are breeders out there who love and pamper their pooches, but sadly these breeders are growing few and far between. If you must have a pure breed puppy, don't trust the internet or even the breeders themselves. Personally inspect the facilities- and for God's sake, if you see something suspicious, call the Humane Society.

Thanks to idiots like Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, who glamorize the trend of puppy accessories, puppy mills have new demand for people looking to buy pure breeds, and they don't care about messy issues like this.

It's cost effective to feed the mommy dogs food blended with sawdust.

Vets are too expensive and too suspicious, so if a dog's leg is town off in the door to their rusty wire cages, they bleed to death.