I read a book I could not put down! It contained suspense, horror, murder, retribution and joy. What is this must read book? The title is Saving Gracie: How One dog Escaped the Shadowy World of American Puppy Mills by Carol Bradley. The world of puppy mills is frankly awful. The statistics listed in the book are horrifying. Dogs are bred over and over again in cages with not enough room to stand up in and are confined there with their own excrement. If injuries occur, including broken bones or the loss of a limb, they must endure with no medical help. They are useful until they can no longer breed and then they are shot, poisoned, drowned, etc. as one of the many methods used to end their lives. By 2007 the Humane Society of the United States estimated from two to four million puppy mill dogs were sold in the United States and the number of puppy mills had risen to 10,000. In some areas they are regarded as a cash crop. Gracie, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel was rescued from a breeder with 337 other dogs. She was so matted that she had to be completely shaved. Along with the skin infections, her ears were infected and filled with mucus. She had a case of dry eye so advanced that it had left her half blind and her teeth were almost completely decayed. She was eventually adopted but showed severe emotional problems that her owner had to work hard to overcome. Today she is a beloved pet that will always have some issues but now she is a member of a family and just not a puppy producer.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Saving Gracie
I read a book I could not put down! It contained suspense, horror, murder, retribution and joy. What is this must read book? The title is Saving Gracie: How One dog Escaped the Shadowy World of American Puppy Mills by Carol Bradley. The world of puppy mills is frankly awful. The statistics listed in the book are horrifying. Dogs are bred over and over again in cages with not enough room to stand up in and are confined there with their own excrement. If injuries occur, including broken bones or the loss of a limb, they must endure with no medical help. They are useful until they can no longer breed and then they are shot, poisoned, drowned, etc. as one of the many methods used to end their lives. By 2007 the Humane Society of the United States estimated from two to four million puppy mill dogs were sold in the United States and the number of puppy mills had risen to 10,000. In some areas they are regarded as a cash crop. Gracie, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel was rescued from a breeder with 337 other dogs. She was so matted that she had to be completely shaved. Along with the skin infections, her ears were infected and filled with mucus. She had a case of dry eye so advanced that it had left her half blind and her teeth were almost completely decayed. She was eventually adopted but showed severe emotional problems that her owner had to work hard to overcome. Today she is a beloved pet that will always have some issues but now she is a member of a family and just not a puppy producer.
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Hi Denise - Thanks for highlighting the issue of puppy mills. Public education can go a long way toward drying up the market for mass-produced purebred puppies. Your blog post is very timely; the federal government's Office of Inspector General recently released a report detailing the lack of enforcement for basic standards at USDA-licensed breeding facilities. You can read more at our president/CEO's blog at http://hsus.typepad.com/wayne/2010/05/puppy-mills.html. There's also a "stop puppy mills" pledge you can sign here: http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/puppy_mills/. Puppy mills are a sad subject, but I think we're starting to get some traction on this issue.
Hillary, Humane Society of the U.S.
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