A Big Thank You!

A big thank you goes out to Governor Rendell of Pennsylvania! On August 27th Gov Rendell passed H.B. 39 which establishes penalties for dog owners who engage in the following procedures on their own dogs: Cropping, trimming or cutting off an ear; Debarking by cutting or injuring the vocal cords; Docking or cutting off the tail of a dog over five days of age; Surgically birthing a dog; and Removing the dewclaws from a dog over five days of age. Most of these procedures were being done by the people who operate these horrific places called puppy mills. Personally I do not believe in any of these practices but if they must be done then they are required to have them done by a licensed veterinarian. One step at a time.

Unfortunately Pennsylvania has earned the reputation of being the puppy mill capital of the east coast, especially in the county of Lancaster. Last October this same Governor signed laws specifically targeting the puppy mills in his state. PA is not the only state with puppy mills but it is one of the few states that is finally taking a stand against this disgusting business.

Puppy mills are one of my passions in life. I am committed to helping to get the word out about them and getting shut them down. If you don't know what a puppy mill is or even if you do visit a few of these web sites to see where these "cute little puppies" are coming from.
http://stoppuppymills.org/ or www.puppymillrescue.com or www.prisonersofgreed.org. On You Tube you can watch an undercover video of a dog auction. These are mill dogs that are bought and sold like livestock.

Now I don't write about the puppy mills and tell people to educate themselves about them to depress them because bottom line is this suffering goes on day in and day out whether you acknowledge it or not. They exist every day until they either die or are given over to rescue to be put back together. Yes it is hard stuff to watch but it just may move you to donate to this cause that is very close to my heart. There is a great quote by Gandhi that says, "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by how they treat their animals." So how are we doing as a nation, as a state, as a community? We're getting there, we're getting there....

Happy Trails,
Sherry