from In Defense of Animals -
ida@idausa.org
News Article From the St Louis Post Dispatch Puts The
State Of MO In A Bad Light
www.postnet.com
A CRUEL INDUSTRY
IT is Missouri's long-running shame to lead the nation
in the manufacture of puppies for profit. Manufacture is precisely the
right word.
Every month, some 13,000 puppies are whelped, stacked in
cages and shipped out of Missouri like canned goods to pet stores. The
legality of this industry doesn't make it any less contemptible.
The dogs spend most of their lives in cages, and are
bred over and over again. Sometimes the dogs have become so ill from
neglect that the puppy mill owners hand them over to rescuers without a
fight. It is bad enough that the lax laws governing puppy mills allow
most of these conditions. But state Auditor Claire McCaskill found that
state inspectors did not cite a single breeder for any kind of violation
in a two-year period. To make matters worse, two men in the state
inspection program had puppy mill money flowing directly into their
family coffers from facilities run by their wives.
It is unacceptable for so-called inspectors to fail to
find serious fault with facilities that prompt rescues like the one led
by Stray Rescue of St. Louis in early 1999. Of 16 purebred American
Eskimo dogs taken from three puppy mills in southwestern Missouri, three
were so seriously ill they had to be euthanized. Underfed and sitting in
a fecund stew of their own feces, the rest suffered from maladies
ranging from malnutrition to ear mites to frost bite. A few required
surgery.
An industry that pumps $2 billion a year into the state
economy has successfully ignored the protests of those who would like to
see the commercial venture radically reformed, if not outlawed. The
taxpayers who pay inspectors' salaries must demand an oversight team
that, at the very least, enforces the generous limits of an unkind
industry. Reforming the laws themselves is the next step.
If you're looking for a pet, veterinarians advise, first
check the animal shelters in your area, or contact a reputable breeder
and visit his facility. The most effective way to put an end to the
inhumane conditions at puppy mills is to help put them out of business.
Go on to The Hunted
Return to 14 March 2001 Issue
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