Pet Horrors

Lancaster County, Pennsylvania -- known as “The Puppy Mill Capital of the East Coast” -- has the largest concentration of dog breeders for any county in the United States. Lancaster is commonly recognized for its large Amish population. Although the Amish are known for their very traditional, religious lifestyle, they also own and operate many of the worst puppy mills in Lancaster. Their involvement with these mills brings them millions of dollars each year. Lancaster’s breeding facilities house an average of 119 dogs, almost twice the national average of 60 dogs per USDA-licensed facility. There were 193 licensed breeding kennels in Lancaster County that produced more that 200,000 animals in 2004. However, even with licensing requirements, it is estimated that half of the breeders in Lancaster County are unlicensed -- which means they are difficult to locate and operate unregulated by the USDA.

LCA's 2005 billboard, located just outside Lancaster County on Westbound Route 30 (by Route 82), made the front page of the Lancaster newspaper and exposed Lancaster’s puppy mill business. Recently, activists in Pennsylvania found evidence of another of Lancaster’s dirty little secrets. Choose from the menu below to read more about what the activists found!

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Is Your Local Pet Shop a LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS ?
Info courtesy of Illinois Animal Action

Behind the Scenes of a Sickening Business If consumers know what went on behind the scenes of today’s pet industry, they would think twice about bringing home that cute puppy or kitten in the window. Indifferent to animal suffering, the pet industry is a cruel business that treatment of animals unconscionable -more common than you think. So common in fact there’s a good chance your neighborhood pet shop is a little shop of horrors.

Keeping costs low is the name of the game in today’s cut-throat pet business. Considered “saleable merchandise” rather than sentient beings, “defective” animals suffer brutal deaths at the hands of store owners and employees. Sick, injured, and surplus animals are killed by the least expensive methods- methods that are almost always grossly inhumane. Nationwide, pet shop employees and ex-employees report witnessing or being told to murder dogs, cats, birds and other animals by bludgeoning them, putting them in freezers, drowning them in toilets, or leaving them in back rooms or closets to die of neglect- all so the store can avoid vet bills, cut food and housing costs.

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RELATED LINKS http://www.stop-puppy-mills.com/pr2.html
http://www.nopuppymillscanada.ca/home_page_2.htm
http://www.cavies.com/nopuppymills.html
http://dogs.about.com/cs/petstorepuppies/

Most dogs sold in pet stores were raised in “puppy mills,” breeding kennels that imprison female dogs for life in cramped, unsanitary cages where they are bred continually. “Puppy mill” puppies are cruelly taken from their mothers at as young as 4 weeks old and shipped to pet shops. These puppies typically have a myriad of physical and behavioral problems, the result of reckless breeding and hereditary afflictions. Only 50% survive the atrocious conditions of the puppy mill and transport to see the pet shop.

“Pocket Pets”: Prisoners of Profit
An alarming number of pet shops are in the lucrative “pocket pet” business, selling small exotic/wild animals, such as hedgehogs, prairie dogs, and iguanas to satisfy consumer demand. Life in captivity is often a death sentence for these animals, who are abducted form their natural habitats and forced to live in improper environments. These animals suffer from malnutrition, loneliness, and the extreme stress of confinement- many die in misery before reaching the store.

Looking for Violations At your local pet shop, be alert for signs of poor animal health (listlessness, diarrhea, runny eyes); poor sanitation ( cockroaches, rodent droppings, dirty cages); and lack of food and clean drinking water. Sick animals should never be housed with healthy ones.

DOGS must have water and solid flooring (trays must be flat on floor); only one large dog to a single cage. Look for runny stool and clogged dry noses, which are signs of distemper and parvovirus.

CATS should have and elevated surface (above the litter area) to rest on. Water must be in a clean dish. Look for upper respiratory disease symptoms( eye covered with inner membrane, runny eyes/nose, sneezing).

RABBITS and other small mammals (guinea pigs, hamster, rats/mice) need water bottles and paper-based litter/bedding (cedar and pine shaving cause respiratory problems ). Look for listlessness, runny noses and eyes, sneezing. Rabbits can die of heat stroke (look for very rapid breathing) in room temperatures above 75 degrees.

Info provided by PETA
Exotic Animals: Born Free, Sold Out

Every year, countless people succumb to the temptation to purchase "exotic" animals like hedgehogs, macaws, lizards, monkeys--even tigers and bears--from pet shops or auctions to keep as "pets." But life in captivity is often a death sentence for these animals, who may suffer from malnutrition, an improper environment, loneliness, and the stress of confinement. The exotic animal trade is deadly for animals we don't see, too: For every animal who makes it to the pet store or auction, countless others die along the way.

The Journey to the Pet Shop

Even when birds, reptiles, fish, and mammals are legally purchased in pet shops or from dealers, a cruel, illegal trade in exotic animals is being supported. Birds are smuggled into the United States more than any other animal. Before being shipped, birds are often force-fed, their wings are clipped, their beaks are taped shut, and they are crammed into everything from spare tires to luggage. It's not unusual for 80 percent of the birds in one shipment to die. Reptiles, who are drugged and stuffed into containers with false bottoms, also have high death rates. Despite the enormous losses of life, smugglers reap profits: Wildlife experts estimate that the illegal trade in exotic animals is a $10 billion-a-year business.(1) Many animals, ounce for ounce, are worth more to smugglers than cocaine.(2)

Taking animals from their natural habitats not only endangers individual animals--it jeopardizes entire populations and ecosystems. For example, the population of the South American hyacinth macaw has dropped 75 percent in the last 10 years due to smugglers' capturing of the birds for U.S. and European collectors. In Argentina, trappers have cut down thousands of quebracho trees since 1976 to reach fledgling macaws in their nests, destroying the habitat for all remaining animals. In the waters of the Philippines, poachers spray a sub-lethal dose of cyanide--which poisons fragile coral reefs--to stun and capture brightly colored tropical fish.(3) To capture baby orangutans, poachers shoot the infants' mothers because, instead of running away, the babies cling to their mothers' dead bodies in fright.

(4) Animals bred in captivity usually fare no better. For example, to help generate demand for pot-bellied pigs, breeders tell unsuspecting buyers that these animals grow to weigh no more than 40 pounds. To keep pigs small, unscrupulous breeders may deprive the pigs of food or inbreed them. But, once adopted, pigs often grow to top the scales at 200 pounds or more.(5) Birds older than 8 to 10 weeks of age don't sell well at pet shops, so many are kept for breeding, confined to small, filthy cages. Nest boxes usually offer no means of escape, endangering female birds who can be injured or killed by sexually aggressive males. One trade magazine warns that hedgehogs under stress--from being confined, fed an improper diet, or forced to have too many litters--may display erratic behavior, including deserting, or even eating, their babies.(6)

Hidden Dangers to Humans
Some exotic animals are regulated by laws that make it illegal for private individuals to keep them. These laws are usually designed not to protect animals, but to protect humans from animals who may be dangerous or who can carry transmittable diseases. For example, people can contract diseases like tuberculosis and hepatitis B from monkeys.(7) Iguanas and other reptiles-- the fastest-growing segment of the exotic animals trade--can and do transmit salmonella bacteria to humans.(8, 9) Animals such as raccoons and hedgehogs often suffer from distemper, mange, parasites, and bacterial and viral infections, which can be transferred to domestic animals.

Many exotic animals have innate characteristics that make them unsuitable to keep inside homes. Tigers, lions, and other big cats, who can be legally purchased at auctions throughout the country, are just one example. In a span of just a few months, a 2-year-old Chicago girl was mauled by her aunt's "pet" Asian jungle cat and needed 200 stitches(10); a 3-year-old North Carolina boy required surgery after being attacked by his father's Bengal tiger(11); and 15 lions were killed by police officers in Idaho after the animals attacked their owners and escaped from "Ligertown," a private compound that housed exotic animals.(12) Federal laws regulate the keeping of exotic--and potentially dangerous--animals only if they are endangered or exhibited or bred for profit. State and county laws are often too vague to be enforceable.

Ignorance Breeds Misery
Enormous suffering can also result from negligence or ignorance when exotic animals are kept in captivity. In November 1995, animal control authorities confiscated a crippled cougar cub from a man in Long Island, N.Y. The cub had been fed a calcium-deficient diet, which caused her bones to become twisted and deformed. A local SPCA investigator said the cub's "own weight breaks her bones."(13) Iguanas can suffer debilitating illnesses--and death--if they are not provided with enough sunlight (for proper calcium metabolism) or if they are fed inadequate diets. Hedgehogs, who roll themselves into tight balls, can easily become injured when children try to "uncurl" them or if cats roll them across floors. Some types of fish will die of loneliness if they do not have other fish companions.

Nowhere to Turn
The American Zoo and Aquarium Association advises zoos to refuse exotic animals from people who are unable or unwilling to care for them. Jack Cover, a curator at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, says, "We'd have to have two or three warehouses to handle the donations we get calls on."(14) Some people sneak animals into exhibits--and risk infecting zoo populations with diseases--or leave animals in front of zoo gates; usually these animals are euthanized. Others try to return unwanted animals to their natural homes--or simply abandon them along rural roads-- but without appropriate rehabilitation, these animals will starve or fall victim to the elements or predators. Many pot-bellied pigs are taken to slaughterhouses when their owners tire of them.

A Death Sentence for Exotic Animals
According to animal shelter sources, 60 percent of all wild animals who are kept as "pets" die within the first month of ownership; of the remainder, 20 percent die within the first year, and only 10 percent are still alive by the end of the second year.(15) Resist buying exotic animals from dealers or pet shops. Support or introduce legislation that would make owning exotic animals illegal in your community (contact PETA for a sample ordinance), and fight efforts by breeders and pet store owners to dismantle existing laws. If you are concerned about the welfare of an exotic animal in your community, contact the local humane society. Often, animal control officials conduct investigations only after complaints by neighbors have been filed.

References
Toufexis, Anastasia, "All God's Creatures Priced to Sell," Time, July 19, 1993. Dermota, Ken, "Animal Trade Giving Drugs Run for Money in S. America," The Christian Science Monitor, February 21, 1995. Toufexis, op cit. Lyons, Jonathan, "Smuggled Orangutans: The Bangkok Six," The Animals' Agenda, Vol. 15, No. 2. Jeffery, Clara, "Pigstown," Washington City Paper, July 21, 1995. Hansen, Debbie, "Are Hedgehogs Still a Good Investment?," Animal Finders' Guide. Guillermo, Kathy Snow, "Paradise Lost," The Animals' Agenda, September/October 1993. Dale, Steve, "Snakes Slithering to New Popularity as Pets Among Americans," Las Vegas Review-Journal and Las Vegas Sun, August 6, 1995. "Pet Reptiles May Pose Salmonella Danger to Young Children," National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions News Notes, July 19, 1995. Blaney, Lisa, "Fate of Jungle Cat Shifts to Illinois Jurisdiction," The Daily Iowan, July 3, 1995. Cochran, Kelly Thompson, and Steve Swindell, "Family's Pet Tiger Attacks, Seriously Wounds 3-Year-Old Boy," The News & Observer, November 24, 1995. Curley, Tom, and Carol J. Castaneda, "Lions on the Loose Shot Dead," USA Today, September 22, 1995. Crowley, Kieran, "L.I. Docs in Race to Save Abused Cougar," The New York Post, November 9, 1995. Birch, Douglas, "Zoos Slam Door on Exotic Pets Looking for Homes," Baltimore Sun, July 17, 1995. South Bay In Defense of Animals, Nike Animal Rescue Foundation, St. Francis of Assisi Animal Rescue, and Companion Animal Rescue Effort, "Exotic Pets--for the Ultimate Animal Lover?" factsheet.