First of all, I want to share this good news: this week, the Los Angeles city council approved an ordinance banning the retail sales of dogs, cats, and rabbits obtained from commercial breeders. LA will be joining at least 27 other cities in North America, including 10 in California, and is the largest community in the US to do so. Pet stores will only be able to sell pets obtained from shelters, registered rescues, and humane societies. The effort to get this legislation passed was led by one of my favorite rescues: Best Friends Animal Society (see my previous blog about this wonderful place). Hopefully, this will lead to other cities following suit! This effectively puts puppy mills out of the pet store business there. You can read more about this on Best Friends’ blog.
Now, what else can we as individuals do to put an end to puppy mills? Let’s start with some easy things:
- Support rescues and organizations such as Best Friends who are working on this issue. Other groups are:
- Do not buy a pet from a pet store who may buy from puppy mills, or from a breeder who sells online. If you want to buy from a breeder there are safe ways to do so, to be sure they are not a puppy mill. There are pet stores that are “puppy friendly” and you can find out who they are in your area here .
- If you are on Facebook, find and “like” the above groups. Share the information that they share, and get the word out any way you can! Educating people is very important. Often some of these groups are in contests to win money for their cause, and it is easy to help them that way, with just a couple clicks of your mouse.
- Sign a pledge to help stop puppy mills ; or a pledge to not shop at a pet store that sells puppies. There is a list available through the ASPCA that you can use to search your local area stores.
Other things you could do include contacting your legislators and letting them know where you stand on this issue; and encourage them to pass any pending legislation (discussed in Part 2). You can also find out your legislator’s record on these issues through the Humane Society Legislative Fund. This website can also provide you with contact info for your legislators.
There is even more you can do; and you can learn what some of these things are at the HSUS website. One of my favorite suggestions on there is writing a letter to the editor of your local newspaper, especially around the holidays, to educate people about puppy mills and adopting instead of buying puppies. They even give you sample letters to give you a guide. I am going to do this during this holiday season. This is an easy way to get the word out.
I think that is really the #1 thing we can all do: Spread the word and educate others!! Encourage everyone to follow this rule: “DON’T SHOP – ADOPT!!”
Part 4 will be about National Mill Dog Rescue.
Thanks for taking the time to spread the happy news. In the world of animal welfare it’s so easy to get bogged down by all the work still to be done that I don’t think we appreciate just how far we have come in a very short time.
Also, I love the tips, especially number three. Supporting causes really can be so easy nowadays with social media. A simple share on Facebook can go a long way.
You are so right, Kristine. There are so many bad things happening, that sometimes we do need to just take a breath and focus on the good.
I think Facebook is so great for this type of thing, and it does make it easy for everyone to help a little.
This is such good news from Los Angeles. You made some great suggestions for keeping the momentum going in the right direction.
I really like the idea of writing an editorial letter. Our newspaper features lots of puppy ads and this is a great way to get the word out to the likely buyers of puppies.
I’ll add one more tip. I’m seeing a lot of Google AdSense ads for internet puppy sales. And unfortunately, they’re often appearing on the blogs of people who would not want to support such things. Since the bloggers probably aren’t seeing the ads, it’s a good idea to (gently) point out what we see when we visit.
That is good to know, Pamela, and I will keep an eye out for those ads. I haven’t added advertising to my blog yet, but plan to in the future, so I would definitely want people to let me know when something inappropriate like that shows up.
Good blog! I really love how it is simple on my eyes and the data are well written. I am wondering how I might be notified when a new post has been made. I’ve subscribed to your RSS which must do the trick! Have a nice day!