 Are "we" the problem?
I guess I wonder the same thing but what I'm learning is that we can legislate humane conditions to the degree of food, water & shelter but we still don't have enough inspectors to enforce this & apparently (from some articles), the USDA is not without some degree of corruption itself.
Also, it seems that there aren't laws governing socialization, that dogs can be raised legally as cows, horses, sheep, etc. I think one of the things we need is some legislation that differentiates between pets & livestock.
Is a dog that is raised in a kennel unhappy if all his physical needs are provided? Do they crave human companionship or does that only come with association with humans? I don't know of anything that speaks to that issue.
Or on the contrary, if the parents are not unhappy with kennel life, does that mean that the puppies will not desire human contact and become more "wild"?
Would this in turn lead to less domesticated animals and poorer pets?
And then, something else has been preying on my mind. Are we the problem?? If we weren't so interested in paying $1500 or more dollars for a cute little Yorkie pup, would the puppy mills be in business. If all we did was rescue or at least not pay as much as we (myself definitely included) do, would it just no longer be so tempting? I read one article where the Amish farmer was making in the six figures with his puppy mill. Actually, he wasn't even doing it, the women were.
I will not buy anything from a pet store that sells puppies, I will not buy a puppy mill product or in any way benefit them to my knowledge. And I'm sure many of you will do the same. But we've got to do more, politically & morally & we need to rescue, & we need to spay & neuter all our pets.
On a side note, the other cash crop that I saw at the first Amish farm was tobacco. |