Educate, educate, educate.
I shudder when someone mentions "rescuing" an animal from a petstore. You may feel like you saved THAT animal from its current misery, but all you did was put money in the breeders' hands, and the next week, one or two more dogs take it's place.
You'd be doing SO much more good if, when you were apalled at something you saw in a petstore, you went home, and talked to your friends, and made phone calls, and wrote letters, and did something that would NOT support ($$$) the cycle, and enable it to continue.
What about the animals in the petstore? Don't they deserve a loving home too? This is the question that is always asked. Well, then, let the next customer who walks in be the one to support the mills, NOT YOU. And continue to try to (diplomatically) educate everyone you have the opportunity to discuss the issue with.
It's not like EVERYONE is going to stop buying animals in petstores all at once, leaving an entire generation of cats and dogs languishing in their cages into their old age. Rather, the tide will be turned in degrees, as more and more people are educated, and look for reputable breeders...and the supply/demand cycle for the mills dies a slow death.
That is the ONLY answer.
By the way, I in no way stand in judgment of anyone who bought their pet at a petstore before they "knew better"...I've done the same in the past. |