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Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Consumer Fraud at Pet Shops

If you love animals you probably would never buy a puppy from a pet store because you refuse to support the commercial dog breeding industry (otherwise known as puppy mills). Dogs living at puppy mills are "protected" under the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) but the standards required are simply minimal standards for survival. One example of how low these standards are is with regard to living space. The requirement is that there be at least six inches on each side of the dog and above its head. This is akin to a beagle spending its life in a cage the size of a dishwasher! Will it survive? Probably. Will its life be in any way comfortable? Absolutely not.

According to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), "Inspection records obtained by The HSUS show that many USDA-licensed breeders get away with repeated violations of the Animal Welfare Act. These violators are rarely fined and their licenses are rarely suspended. Facilities with long histories of repeated violations for basic care conditions are often allowed to renew their licenses again and again." The standards are already dismally low so allowing chronic violators to continue operating makes a mockery of the AWA. If the USDA truly enforced the Animal Welfare Act there would be a lot of puppy mills shut down and the ones that remain in operation would be more compliant.

Please watch this three minute video by Best Friends Animal Society (bestfriends.org) to gain a clearer understanding of what life is like for dogs living in puppy mills and why so many puppies sold in pet stores are genetically inferior and often have illnesses that are not immediately apparent.

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