A look inside puppy farms (also known as puppy mills) where hundreds of dogs are kept as breeding machines to supply the pet shop industry. This is the hidden cruelty behind 'that puppy in the window'.
How can they be so Cruel?
ACA puppy farm is regarded as one of the 'better' puppy farms. Yet during this investigation hundreds of dogs were observed being kept in appalling conditions. 44 gallon drums were used as kennels for many of the dogs (some stamped with the word ‘poison’). Some of the breeding dogs were kept in tiny caged enclosures on concrete floors with nowhere to sleep, except for a plastic drum with a hole cut in the bottom.
Prisoners for Profit
These photos were taken as part of a ten year campaign to shut down Australia's largest puppy factory farm, located in Victoria, Australia. The farm was raided over twenty times by Open Rescue activists who documented appalling cruelty, and rescued sick and injured animals. The campaign was ultimately successful after these investigations received widespread media coverage, the farm was shut down by the local council in May 2005
What is a Puppy Mill?
Intensive puppy breeding is the hidden cruelty behind the pet store window. The general public are unaware that puppy mills (or puppy farms) can house thousands of dogs, imprisoned for life as they churn our litter after litter of puppies. Female dogs come into their first season at approximately 4-6 months of age and this is when many unscrupulous breeders mate them for their first litter, when they are still only puppies themselves.
Mother dogs are not given any rest between litters and are kept in a continual cycle of pregnancy. Father dogs live their entire lives locked in pens with small runs, if they are lucky, and are only there to 'service' the female dogs. Both the mother and father dogs spend day after day ceaselessly pacing back and forth in small enclosures, their only way of coping with endless despair. These intelligent animals are treated as nothing more than breeding machines.
Puppies are weaned from their mums between 4 and 5 weeks of age and then transported to pet stores for display to the unsuspecting public. Pet shop owners depend on love at first sight when people, especially kids, see the adorable little puppies, as it prompts people to make an impulsive purchase. What the consumer can’t see is the puppy’s mother imprisoned miles away in her small pen awaiting repeated pregnancies.
In Australia approximately 160,000 dogs are kiled every year because they are homeless, lost or abandoned. That is 350 unwanted dogs who are killed each and every day.
