Puppy mills profit on neglect of man's best friend - Columnists | Tri-City Herald : Mid-Columbia news

Puppy mills profit on neglect of man's best friend - Columnists Tri-City Herald : Mid-Columbia news: "Puppy mills profit on neglect of man's best friend
By Dan Paul, Special to the Herald
The recent raid on a Kennewick puppy mill that freed about 400 miniature American Eskimo dogs will quickly fade from local headlines and public consciousness.
It shouldn't.
Behind the innocuous phrase 'puppy mill' hides a grim reality. The vast majority of the more than 2 million puppies sold annually by retail pet stores, through classified ads or on the internet, are mass produced in abysmal conditions in these horrible mills, using breeding dogs that are caged all their lives, never to become part of a family.
Puppy mills maximize profits by churning out the highest number of dogs for the lowest possible overhead cost with scant regard for the health and well being of the parent animals and their offspring.
Hence, the growth of a wretched industry that cuts corners at every opportunity and for all practical purposes operates with few regulations and minimal oversight. If you want to report a puppy mill contact www.mda.mo.gov or call The Humane Society Hotline at 1-877-MILL-TIP and for the complete story he wrote go to the site above!!!