Puppy Mill Research Paper

BADM 340
To Ban or Not to Ban Puppy Mill Puppies in Pet Stores

Executive Summary
This paper focuses on the pet store industry, and whether or not it is ethical to be purchasing puppies from pet stores that most likely came from puppy mills. Throughout the essay, one can expect a history of how puppy mills became popular as well as gaining an understanding of the pet industry market. Moving forward, the paper will describe the cruel, inhumane acts discovered in puppy mills and provide different viewpoints on the situation. After stating the viewpoints, I will propose my own opinion on this much-heated issue as to how I think we can combat animal euthanasia and overpopulation.
The phrase “a dog is a man’s best friend,” is
A typical puppy mill, to save money, is underemployed with a maximum of 3 to 5 employees taking care of the potential 1,000+ puppies. As a result, there is little to no human interaction, which leads the puppies to possibly having poor social habits and showing fearful behavior.6 The puppies are usually taken away from their mother and their littermates and sold off as early as just 4-6 weeks old.5 This is illegal, as the Animal Welfare Act states “No dog dealer… shall separate a puppy ... from its mother, for the purpose of sale, until such puppy … has attained the age of 8 weeks.”7 This statement is a law for a reason: according to the Humane Society of the United States, an animal rights not-for-profit organization, puppies should be with their littermates for 8-12 weeks and weaning from the mother should gradually be stopped by 8 weeks of age.8 This is because during those 8-12 weeks with his or her littermates, the puppy learns social skills such as how to send and receive signals, how physically far to go in play-wrestling, what an “inhibited bite” means, and in general learning how to be a dog when surrounded by his or her littermates.6 Also, it is important for the mother to be with the puppy for the 8 weeks as the mother models the affection and warmth which the puppy senses, and the puppy can pick up this cue and display this affection on his or her own.6 Therefore, it is important for the
PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), the largest animal rights organization in the world, had a PETA investigator work for a puppy mill farm, Nielsen Farms, located in Kansas. While working there, the investigator noticed that the animals had little to no protection from harsh weather conditions, and major health problems like ear infections and abscessed feet from the wired cages were ignored or improperly treated.9 In the report, the investigator mentions that his coworker found a dead dog, and the dog was not removed from its cage for days. The investigator also mentions, “The trough that collects the waste from the cages gives off an incredibly rotten smell, since it is merely rinsed with cold water and there is a large buildup of encrusted hair and feces.” 9As these conditions were unsanitary and by no doubt required USDA intervention, the investigator notes that the USDA’s “visits [were] infrequent and usually announced ahead of time.”9 When the USDA investigator arrived on the scene, “the investigator glanced at the cages but did not examine the dogs” and the case was not reported.9 Devastated, the PETA investigator took matters into his own hands and had arranged for PETA officials to further investigate. As a result, after the inspection and seeing the filth, the puppy mill was closed down.9 Overall, this investigation conveys that the