Written by Michelle Sherrow
In what could prove to be a groundbreaking case for the legal rights of animals, New Yorker Elena Zakharova is suing a pet store because of the chronic pain that her dog, Umka, suffers from as a result of hip and knee problems, which she attributes to the dog's puppy mill origins.
While New York has a puppy "lemon law" that allows buyers to return dogs with medical problems, Zakharova refuses to send Umka back to the store as if she were a defective stereo. If the court rules in Zakharova's favor, it could set a precedent under which pet stores would have to pony up, as well they should, to guardians of puppy mill dogs who incur bills associated with medical problems caused by negligence or a deliberate lack of appropriate early care. This could, in turn, squelch puppy mills, which confine dogs to small, filthy wire cages as mere "breeding machines" and allow them to suffer from untreated illnesses and injuries.
We will watch and hope for the best in this important case for "pet shop pups."
Written by Jeff Mackey
If your dogs' tails are wagging a little more today, maybe they've heard the news that Ireland has cracked down on puppy mills! (Note to U.S. legislators: What's the holdup?)
The new Irish laws took effect on New Year's Day, outlawing the horrific conditions—including cramped enclosures, filth, malnutrition, exposure, disease, and a lack of socialization and veterinary care—common to those nasty intensive dog-breeding operations. All puppies must be microchipped so that the breeder can be identified, and authorities can inspect and shut down any facility that fails to meet the standards set by the new regulations.
So if you see people sporting a "Kiss Me—I'm Irish" button on St. Patrick's Day, feel free to take them up on it. But a much better way to pay tribute to the kind folks of the Emerald Isle is by speaking out against cruel and irresponsible breeding and the pet trade in your own corner of the world.
Written by PETA
© Digital Vision/Cats & Dogs/Getty Images
In a trailblazing move that would earn tail-wagging approval from dogs everywhere, shopping mall developer Macerich has banned pet stores that sell animals in its more than 70 malls across the U.S. and is offering up the pet stores' old spaces as adoption centers for homeless animals instead. This compassionate decision follows another the company made at PETA's urging last year to ban the hideous "Pocket Pets" kiosks, which sell sugar gliders—tiny, exotic, nocturnal marsupials who often die as a result of improper care and the stress and loneliness of captivity.
Proving that one can make a difference, the pet-store ban is largely thanks to the efforts of California resident Jennifer Peterson, who informed Macerich that pet stores are essentially fronts for cruel puppy mills and worked with the company on a plan to evict the stores.
Hopefully, many other malls will follow Macerich's humane lead and ban sales of live animals. Each of us can help, too, by never buying animals from pet stores and giving a grateful dog or cat from a shelter a loving, lifelong home instead.
Tuesday night, in a vote that met with thunderous applause and a standing ovation, the Irvine, California, City Council made the groundbreaking move to simultaneously ban rodeos, circuses that use exotic animals, and retail sales of cats and dogs, making it the first city in the country to ban all three in one fell swoop.
PETA had notified supporters about the pending Irvine vote and urged them to attend the meeting or contact City Council members, and their input was obviously heard loud and clear. Thanks to Irvine's new laws, elephants will be safe from bullhook beatings, horses and bulls will no longer break their backs after being goaded into bucking, and puppy mills will no longer be paid to churn out litters of sickly, unsocialized puppies.
To help pass similar laws in your community, contact your city council members, or e-mail Info@peta.org. For updates on any proposed animal-related laws in your area, join PETA's Action Team.
Written by Heather Faraid Drennan
Lawmakers in California are taking a big step to protect animals from greedy breeders. Landmark two-part legislation bans the sale of animals in any public venue, which includes attempts by breeders to meet buyers they have contacted over the Internet in a neutral location.
The law will, we hope, hinder puppy-mill operators, who often don't want potential buyers to see the cramped, crude, and filthy conditions in which the animals are kept. Undercover investigations of puppy mills have documented dogs with no protection from the heat or cold and no veterinary care while suffering from medical conditions such as crusty, oozing eyes; raging ear infections; mange; and abscessed feet from being forced to stand on wire cage floors. Investigators have also observed dogs who had gone "kennel crazy," frantically turning in circles in their tiny cages.
The new law also increases the penalties for animal neglect so that they are on par with the penalties for cruelty. And some cities in California are going a step further, such as Glendale, where the City Council banned pet store sales of dogs and cats. Of course, we can all protect animals from abuse in the pet trade by always adopting instead of buying.
It turns out that the hypoallergenic dog fad is something to sneeze at. Henry Ford Hospital's Department of Public Health Sciences analyzed dust samples from homes with alleged Benadryl-banishing pups and homes with regular dogs and found no difference in allergen levels.
Dogs like poodles, bichons frisés, and Labradoodles are marketed as "hypoallergenic" because they shed less (their long hair takes longer to grow to its full length and fall out). But of course, these dogs still shed, shake, scratch, and do all sorts of other dog activities that release dander. According to the chair of the Division of Allergic Diseases in the Department of Internal Medicine at the Mayo Clinic, "There is no such thing as a hypoallergenic dog breed …"
Rather than supporting breeders and puppy mills, which rake in money with no thought for the millions of dogs in shelters literally dying for a good home, people who want to share their lives with a dog should adopt a good old-fashioned mutt and experience a whole different type of watery-eye moment.
No dog guardian wants his or her best canine friend to come down with a debilitating, terminal illness. But when they buy a purebred dog, that’s what many dog guardians can expect.
Researchers at the University of Georgia looked at the causes of death for tens of thousands of dogs over two decades and discovered that certain diseases are more likely to afflict certain breeds. For example, they found that Bernese mountain dogs, bouviers des Flandres, boxers, golden retrievers, and Scottish terriers have extremely high mortality rates caused by cancer, while Chihuahuas, Doberman pinschers, fox terriers, Maltese, and Newfoundlands are plagued with deadly cardiovascular disease. This is in addition to the defects that were already known to afflict specific breeds, such as hip dysplasia in German shepherds, spinal disc disease in dachshunds, and epilepsy in beagles.
So, when people pay breeders and pet stores to churn out purebred puppies, who are often the product of inbreeding, they could be sentencing additional dogs to a lifetime of chronic illness and an early death.
That's not to say that mutts don't get sick, but their more diverse genetic makeup lowers the chances that they will suffer from the inherited ailments that often befall purebred dogs. When you adopt a homeless mutt, you not only save a life but also help lessen the demand for more purebred puppies, who may suffer from chronic, painful, and ultimately lethal illnesses.
If there is one person who can command national attention for an issue, it is "queen of all media" Oprah Winfrey. That's why Saving America's Mustangs, a group run by PETA supporter Madeleine Pickens, has enlisted actors, musicians, and athletes to film an appeal to Oprah asking her to help them protect the few wild horses remaining in the West.
Just 100 years ago, there were 2 million free-roaming horses in and around Nevada. Today, there are fewer than 28,000. But that isn't stopping the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from continuing to round up wild horses and confine them by the tens of thousands to holding pens, where they may be held for years before being sold. To get the horses into the corrals, workers rope, drag, and kick them and run them down with helicopters, killing some of them in the process. The roundups cost taxpayers $70 million per year. On July 1, the BLM will resume rounding up even more horses during foaling season.
Why is the BLM so hell-bent on rounding up wild horses? Two words: cattle ranchers. When horses compete with cows for grazing land, guess who ends up the loser? It's just one more of the many excellent reasons not to eat beef cows.
Oprah has done a wonderful job exposing the horrors of puppy mills, the Japanese dolphin slaughter, and factory farm cruelty. Will wild mustangs be the first animals to star on her new network? Stay tuned …
Goldendoodles, cockapoos, cockadoodledoos, and whatever else they're called, "hybrid" dogs fetch—a pretty penny, that is. And breeders and puppy mills are cashing in on the craze. It's really silly that some folks are shelling out as much as $1,600 for one of these dogs when animal shelters and rescue groups are overflowing with dogs in every combination of breeds imaginable, often without the costly health problems of dogs who are purebred or close to it. Perhaps rescuers could convince people to adopt if we started touting our dogs as "designer," too, like my lovely "German Huskweiler."
Insisting on designer sunglasses is one thing, but buying a designer dog is deadly to a dog in an animal shelter. If you know someone considering a hybrid dog, please encourage him or her to visit the local animal shelter (and note that an estimated 25 percent of shelter dogs are purebred) or look at Petfinder.com and see the hundreds of stunning mixed-breed pups with great personalities who are waiting for a family to love.
In the wake of the deaths of six bulldogs during flights last year, Delta Airlines has announced it will no longer ship English, French, or American bulldogs. Bulldogs, whose short snouts prevent them from cooling themselves effectively, are among the breeds most affected by the rigors of transport in unventilated cargo holds.
As my former Pennsylvania puppy mill bulldog, Bruce, snores beside me, I can't imagine how anyone would ever consider subjecting their dog to the terrors and dangers of a cargo hold. Bruce starts breathing hard when the temperature goes above sixty and he would hate being separated from his family and stuck in a cage in a dark, noisy place.
PETA strongly advises against ever shipping any animal in an airplane cargo hold, which can be extremely dangerous—even fatal. Most cargo compartments are kept unventilated in order to help prevent fires. Cargo holds generally have no heat or air conditioning, and they can reach extreme temperatures quickly. Sometimes cats and dogs escape from carriers that have been damaged in transit and become lost inside airplanes or airplane hangars.
Delta's off to a flying start by not allowing bulldogs on board. Even better is Pet Airways, whose only passengers are companion animals—and they all fly first-class.
Written by Jennifer O'Connor
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