[gemy]

Originally Posted by Woogie Man

Gail, I see the problem that you do, but really don't see an alternative. Companion animals are property, whether we think of them that way or not. And, as bad as it is, someone has to watch out for their interests. I would think that if they were taken out of the Agriculture department's purview, that we would just have to put some other incompetent agency in charge.

The USDA, along with the AKC, help start up puppy mills after WWII. At that time, animals were thought of differently and it was a way for farmers to make income. Though there were surely cruelties back then, I don't think anyone foresaw the scale of what some of these operations would become.

You mention the stats I posted. Anyone can surmise what they want from statistics, but a couple of things are striking to me.

First is the number of animals euthanized per year. There is a rough correlation between that number and the estimated number of dogs produced by 'puppy mills'. So, it's obvious that we don't 'need' them. But that doesn't really tell the story.

My opinion is that, regardless of where a dog comes from, it winds up in a shelter due to, for the most part, owner surrender. People just seem to regard animals as disposable and discard them when they become inconvenient. And the problem is compounded when these same people get another animal after getting rid of the one they already had. In my gut, I really think that irresponsible pet ownership is what is driving these statistics (euthanasia rates, puppy mills, BYBs, etc.). I feel that more effort should be made to educate people about responsible pet ownership. Until that is accomplished, we are going to forever be dealing with the problems we see today.

If thoughtless owner surrenders and dumb impulse purchases could be largely eliminated, there would be much less demand for dogs in the first place. It would probably cut the demand by nearly half. With less demand, many puppy mills would just simply go out of business...the same with small-scale 'greeders' and various other jackass breeders. While there would still be a demand greater than could be supplied by reputable breeders, there would simply be no place for the worst of the worst.

There are hundreds of millions of dollars being spent on animal welfare causes. I don't see enough of that money being spent on attacking the root cause of over-population and the inevitable high euthanasia rates that accompany that, however, and that is what i would like to see changed.

Awh yes property ownership. Maybe we can create a licensing agency, where all would be pet owners, must take a course, and be issued a license to own a pet. Like a drivers license. Then for infractions they can be fined, charged, and ultimately denied the "right" to own a dog or a cat. For example if you surrendered a dog to a shelter that goes on your record, and you are disallowed from adoption for a set period of time.

I still feel one of the ways to limit large scale breeders is to legislate proper health screenings, tests, and mandatory microchipping of all puppies, dams/sires. Then identification of health problems, can be traced back to the original USDA breeder. Hit their pocketbook! Make it less profitable and make them "pay" for their poor breeding practices.