The Danger of Puppy Mills - Hanya Awan

Puppy Mills are gradually becoming socially accepted amongst many marketing

specialists and animal keepers. Especially those who grow up selling farms, breeding animals and selling fresh produce and the idea is not a new concept for them to re-adjust their mindset and strategies. Puppy mills are a form of dog breeding that not only is highly inhumane, considering the conditions these young puppies are put through after being separated from their birth mother, but also harmful for the puppies, as they exceed their low immunity and are not even kept through sanitary locations and warehouses. Individuals who do keep puppy mills have intentions for profit in mind, which is why they want the puppies to breed fairly quickly. These puppies from puppy mills are then sold in many markets such as the flea market, and pet stores. The devastating reality of the majority of puppies that are sold from pet stores is from puppy mills, which was a statistic confirmed by The Humane Society of the USA organization (THS). These puppies are kept in cramped spaces, dirty locations. The mother dogs receive no attention from any human or have any contact with her puppies, once she gives birth. When the mother and father of the puppies can no longer breed and produce more offspring, they are abandoned in rural areas where no human or contact can be made to help them or are killed on the spot. According to the HSC, over 10,000 puppy mills currently exist in the USA and over 500,000 dogs are kept for breeding purposes. Annually, over 2.6 million puppies are sold each year, with harmful and unharmful consequences of the puppies being sold to the market. Not only do the puppies that are born live through misery, pain and loss, but also the mothers suffer from various health risks including malnutrition, exposure and lack of moderate veterinary care. The horrifying conditions are still ongoing as these puppy mills have admitted to not providing any bedding, protection from extreme cold or heat and care if the dogs get ill. Health risks range from, ear infections, rashes, skin allergies, wounds from the rough floors and untreatable diseases. This can also impact the dog’s life span as there are more factors contributing to a faster death rate, with pain and agony on a daily basis in these puppy mills. What’s worse is that these

female dogs who give birth, do not have rest and are instantly made to breed for another

offspring and puppy which leaves extreme exhaustion and irritation. The dogs have often starved as the food given is either too little to feed them throughout the day, or contaminated with bugs and maggots.

The puppies that are born are often bleeding, have paw infections, have severe

tooth decay, dehydration and irritation to the eyes that can lead to long-lasting blindness.

Unfortunately, in most states, puppy mills are legal and are not governed enough through

inspections if the puppy mills safely proceed. In fact, out of 10,000 puppy mills in the United States of America, less than 3,000 are facilitated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The puppies have no cleaners or regular baths, which results in them to be living in urine and feces for long periods of time. It’s often to find puppies and dogs to have deep wounds around their necks as the collars are fastened so tight that they are in high chances of suffocation or cuts around their neck, leaving them little space for oxygen and can leave them extremely light-headed, nauseous and unconscious. If the U.S government or U.S Departments do not take further action, then this will also leave puppies becoming more vulnerable in these conditions.

Works Cited

“11 Facts about Puppy Mills | DoSomething.org | Volunteer for Social Change.”

Dosomething.org, 2015, www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-puppy-mills.

“Puppy Mills | PETA.” PETA, 2013,

www.peta.org/issues/animal-companion-issues/pet-trade/puppy-mills/.

“Stopping Puppy Mills.” The Humane Society of the United States, 2000,

www.humanesociety.org/all-our-fights/stopping-puppy-mills.

“The Biggest Animal Rights Issues in the World.” WorldAtlas,

www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-biggest-animal-rights-issues-in-the-world.html.

“The Issues on Puppy Mills.” WorldAtlas,

www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-biggest-animal-rights-issues-in-the-world.html.