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Oprah interviewing a guest. (AP Photo/Harpo Prod. George Burns)
Oprah is known to change people's lives by showing them a better way to live. This week, Oprah herself has made a change in the way she finds her canine family members. Instead of buying a new puppy, she adopted one instead.
Usmagazine.com reports that Oprah and her longtime boyfriend Steadman Graham visited PAWS, a non-profit animal shelter in Chicago. From a litter of six cocker spaniels, Oprah chose a blond female named Amanda.
During the past year, the Oprah show opened the public's eyes to the horrors of puppy mills. These " dog factories" churn out millions of so-called pure bred puppies each year to be sold in pet stores around the country. The female "breeders" are dogs whose lives are spent in outdoor, wire cages, living in extreme weather conditions, with little or no veterinary care, forced to produce litter after litter until their bodies stop functioning.
Puppy milled dogs are often sick with genetic defects and other diseases. But the sellers know that once a consumer purchases these defective dogs, chances are the "merchandise" won't be returned for a refund since hearts would be broken.
The Humane Society of the United States has a pledge consumers can take to staunchly oppose the breeding and selling of puppy milled dogs. Oprah appears to have taken the pledge. Won't you?
HSUS Pledge to Stop Puppy Mills
I will do my part to help stop puppy mills. I pledge to help end this cycle of cruelty by:
• Choosing not to buy my next pet from a pet store or Internet site
• Refusing to buy supplies from any pet store or Internet site that sells puppies.
Next week I will feature a story about a woman who has dedicated her life to ending the sales of puppy milled dogs in the San Francisco Bay Area. Darlena King is motivated by compassion and will stop at nothing to save lives and end suffering. Stay tuned!
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Comments
Good for you for spotlighting this story, Shelley! Oprah's choice makes it more acceptable or even chic to adopt rather than buy, and subsequent media coverage helps spread the word.
Aww, a darling little cocker!
Good for Oprah! Maybe you saw her recent show on the 92 Yorkies rescued from a Missouri puppy mill. (My home state, alas, is the puppy mill capital of the U.S.) The rehabilitation of these dreadfully abused animals is very expensive.
In response, I decided to sell copies of my new book, "How the Yorkie Rescued Santa" to benefit the HSMO, will all proceeds over my cost going to the rescued Yorkies. So far I have cleared $300 for their care and rehab.
Meanwhile, I am so grateful that the disgraceful puppy mill situation is getting the negative attention it deserves. One week after the Yorkie mill raid, our Humane Society raided another Mo mill to rescue several hundred small dogs and a Bengal tiger (!) Dog carcasses were found in the tiger's cage. The outcry has been loud and strong.
Sincerely, Carol Porter, St. Louis, MO
Good Grief
The puppies rescues in Missouri did not come from a breeder. This person is called a "Horder" she had no puppies she was running a rescue and simply had more dogs than she could take care of.
Missouri is not the "Puppy Mill Capitol of the World" as another mis informed person stated. Missouri is the or has been until recently, the only state with regulations, license and standards enforcement. Has been for over twenty years, this regulation and inspection was developed by the pet breeding industry to improve on the conditions and image of our industry. The enforcement program is fully funded by the licensed breeders of the state no tax dollars are ever used.
Missouri is the home of the finest breeding kennels in the World, If you have a great purebred dog it more than likely came from a great Missouri Kennel.
Moses,
Missouri is indeed the puppy mill capitol of the world. If you are in, what you describe as the puppy "INDUSTRY" then you know it. Commercial breeders...breeders FOR PROFIT are by definition puppy mills.
If you are a Missouri commercial breeder, you also know that Missouri license/regulations are a joke. 3 separate Missouri STATE AUDITS over the last 8 years show that even the most heinous regulation abuses resulted in verbal warnings (no fines or paper trails) from state inspectors who are paid by breeders. It has taken the federal government to shut Missouri mills down. Go to the Humane Society of Missouri for the real facts. Or just google Missouri Puppy Mills.
George in Denver
George R., thank you for addressing the matter of Missouri puppy mills. To further clarify the details of the Missouri Yorkie puppy mill raid, I invite readers to check the Missouri Humane Society website: www.hsmo.org . click on "Update". Thank you, Carol Porter
Hi George and Carol - Thank you for your comments on this important issue. I just finished interviewing a 65 year old "grandma" who has devoted her life to stopping the sales of puppy milled dogs here in the Bay Area. I hope to post her story this week. Thanks for caring.
-Shelley
If Sadie, Oprah's other puppy, has Parvo too, I hope she will receive Fresh Frozen Plasma from Hemopet (W.Jean Dodds, DVM founder) Animal Blood Bank in Garden Grove, California. All blood obtained from the rescued greyhounds that donate. My daughter had a dog with parvo and the fresh frozen plasma saved his life.
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