This article is quite disturbing, along with the link it came from. I've always known about puppy mills, but never actually looked further into it until now. I've read countless sites and stories about animal cruelity and have to say I am quite sickened by it, and will be very careful what I buy from now on (especially if it is from Asia)- but you never know, items from China could very well be sold elsewhere throughout the world by different consumers that we trust and we'd never truly know. With the recalls of Mattel toys having poisoned paint/lead/toxic this toxic that you just never know these days. THE truth about this life-like cuddly toy will shock animal lovers the length and breadth of the country. It was bought in Scotland and appears to be a cute kitten, curled up asleep safe and sound in its wicker bed. But this “kitten” is made from the fur of REAL dogs — farmed in horrendous circumstances in China and slaughtered for their pelts. Some are skinned before they are completely dead. The horrific discovery was made by Scots MEP Struan Stevenson (pictured left), who bought this particular toy from a souvenir shop in Shetland. It was labelled “Made in China”. Small print on the reverse of the label described it as an “animal by-product”. We found similar items in a number of shops in Glasgow. Souvenir shops Mr Stevenson says this and similar toys are in gift and souvenir shops around Britain and Europe. Ironically, they’re a firm favourite with pet lovers unaware of their true origins. Pelts are often mislabelled, says Mr Stevenson, so retailers will innocently stock them and customers have no idea what they’re really made of. Identical toys, bought in Holland, were tested for DNA by the Academic Medical Centre of Amsterdam. Results proved conclusively that they were made of dog hair. Mr Stevenson has been tirelessly campaigning for years to put an end to the European market for the remains of dogs and cats farmed in China. The USA has already banned the trade, following an 18-month undercover investigation conducted by the Humane Society International in Communist China. They documented the brutal lives and cruel deaths of more than two million dogs and cats in Asia each year — killed solely for their skins. Since then, Asian exporters have turned to Europe as a market for their products. As well as fur products, dog skins are also used as shoe leather or in some dog chew toys — which means domestic pets may be eating the skins of other dogs. Richard Swain, the Humane Society’s undercover investigator and a former Maryland police captain, said, “Make no mistake about it, this fur is being sold throughout Europe. In China I have seen warehouses the size of football fields piled to the ceiling with dog and cat fur waiting to be exported to the West.” Massive scale Struan Stevenson continued, “This is the evidence I have been waiting for. It confirms without a doubt that the appalling trade in cat and dog fur has penetrated the European market on a massive scale. “Since the USA banned all cat and dog products, Europe has become the new dumping ground. Italy has banned cat and dog imports and it is about time other EU member states followed suit. “I will be writing to Commissioner David Byrne demanding he apply an EU-wide ban on these products. I will be sending him the latest scientific evidence as well as a copy of The Sunday Post to convince him to act now.” read more on the sickening crisis of cat & dog fur trade: Boycott China for Animal Cruelty PLEASE PUT GIVE THIS INFORMATION TO AS MANY FORUMS AND COMMUNITIES AS YOU CAN! Add this Youtube link to the post also, I forgot to put it there. I just found out that items marked as fake fur may be not what it seems. Even items that are priced over $150 could be something else other than what the retailer is advertising! Some fur from Asia were being distributed in Germany and France and made into furry collars, mixed into scarves etc... many patterns from countries are sent to asia and the item is made there- they (the factories) however do not need to tell you what it is made from. If they do, they need not explain HOW the animals were killed or conditions they kept them in. Please be very careful with purchases. This also goes for PET STORES where most of their cute and cuddly little animals come from puppy mills! YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. We must educate ourselves further in this matter. Should you have an article of clothing or an item you are very suspicious of, I'd recommend just throwing the thing in the garbage. Do not even bother GIVING it away to charity! Unless you are quite positive the hair or item is FAKE (made of plastics) then it should be ok. I saw one of those furry animal things (the sleeping cat in basket toy) at the mall in the General Store; a shop full of nic nacs an' things...well they had a few of those toys in there and they were made in China. I asked the lady who works there if it disturbs her that that the product could possibly be made of cat or dog hairs and she grinned, shrugged her shoulders and replied: "It does not bother me. It all depends on what interests the customers have. Some do not care what it is made out of."
I know a lot of oriental places don't have animal cruelty laws. A girl i know just got back from china, and she said she went to this restaurant, and these people she was with ordered monkey brain. A living monkey was brought out in a cage and it's head was put in a clamp. The top of its head was then cut off with a machete and hot oil poured all over it. Then the people started to eat the brain while the monkey was still moving around. It is crazy what some countrys can get away with.
Talk about coinidence! I'm actually writing a speech on animal cruelty right now, and I recently came across the topic of puppy mills. Before then, I hadn't even the slightest idea that they existed. Check out animalcruelty.com for some disturbing information. I swear I'm going to cry during my research period. I have 3 dogs at home and love them all so much, and when I think that that could have been their fate... It just shocks me. Its insane what people can get away with. This crisis needs to be stopped. And not just puppy mills. Inhumane abuse of animals completely. Just recently I checked out some statistics on the convicted criminals found guilty of animal abuse, and you would not believe some of the things these people have done. I wont even post it here. "The question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?" - Jeremy Bentham
I am sorry but this is absolutely disgusting! It's outrageous! It's vulgar, repulsive! I just don't know what to say realy. I am in shock that this kind of vulgarity is still going on. I mean how can people do that to a poor innocent animal for **** sake? Have they got no ****ing hearts at all? They are sick and deserve to treated in the exact same ways!!!! How about we string them up by their ears or tie them naked to a cactus in the middle of the desert somewhere and let them die! That would be justified in my opinion anyways. This is the sickest thing that I have ever heard in my life and I am glad that living in Australia we don't have this sort of vulgatiry happening and if we did it WOULD NEVER be left unpunished. People who can do this sort of thing to any animal of any kind deserves to be dealt a most agonising and slow painful death. Sorry it just gets me so agrovated when I hear of this kind of thing happening to defenseless animals.
We eat cows and pigs and many think it inhumane to do such horrible things to them. Breeding animals for the purpose of only eating them is one thing, but caging them, hooking them up by the chin and skinning them while they are still alive through all of this is sickening...what is worse, SELLING it for profit, getting the funds regardless and not giving it another thought. This act is legal in China, the embassador was spoken to about this, but he said there is nothing he can do about it. There is no law telling people that killing pets (such as dogs and cats)for whatever reason is illegal. They have a law against killing endangered species- that is it.
I don't care wether it is legal or not. It is repulsive that they can do such things and deserve to be treated in the exact same way.
i have a 7 week old puppy at home, he was a free pup, one of 12. if i hadnt bought him home who knows where he could have ended up, and as a mix breed most owners usually just bonk them on the head if they arent taken. After reading this i stared into his eyes as he was chewing the sleeve of my jumper and felt nothing but love and warmth, all his habbits that annoyed me before seem so petty. I love dogs and this is just disturbing.
Because that will solve so much. It will no doubt put an end to animal cruelty. Sit here and rant all you want, ladies and gentlemen. Whether or not you take any action is your choice. Just don't support those looneys at PETA.
A few years ago now we got a puppy, it was a shabby looking thing and really thin. No one wanted it and it was just dumped at the pet shop and they were talking of destroying it. So me and my younger brother got the puppy and took it home. Now he is huge, fat, digs holes and dens everywhere he can. But he is an awesome dog. To think he was going to be destroyed cause he was a ugly looking under weight puppy. Frost ranting won't get us anywhere that I do know. But the thing is that I donate money every year to the organisations to help prevent this kind of thing from happening. I do my part.
Exactly. The things that people do...its simply insane. Did you know that roughly 40% of convicted killers tortured animals when they were children? Yeah. When I get rich and famous (ha), I'm adopting every animal on the face of the earth, and then I'll give them away to people I know have the purest of hearts. At least, in a perfect world. These acts are illegal in the USA, but that doesn't mean it still doesn't happen. In my state, well over 3000 animal cruelty crimes have been (on record) processed. I dont know, though. There are a lot of funny laws. It really makes me wonder. (Even though I'm very young, I have a job) I pay taxes, way to much, personally, and it really makes me wonder what this is going to. More roundabouts in our already very trendy suburb? I wish I could determine where my taxes go; maybe then this problem wouldn't be so big. And I wouldn't be so obnoxious about taxes, either.
I'm a member of a dog forum and participate in some rescue and fostering work. Our main goal on the site is to deter people from buying dogs from pet shops and backyard breeders so that the puppy mill industry eventually dies out. A lot of people actually join the site in hope of buying a pet shop puppy or backyard bred puppy and actually change their minds and end up getting a purebred from an ethical breeder or rescuing a dog from one of the shelters. The site works to promote purebred dogs bred by registered, ethical breeders, but also to advertise dogs in shelters and promote 'second-hand' dogs. Some people ignore the message and go ahead with buying from a pet shop, but a lot of people change their way of thinking and every little bit helps. Puppy mills are sick industries that desperately need to be shut down; a lot of people just don't realise or care that their puppy is coming from one. Good on you for putting the message out there All the members of this dog site strive to put people off puppy mills, it's good to know other people are doing it, too. ETA: By the way, Torana, this sort of thing does happen in Australia unfortunately. There are thousands of puppy mills around Australia churning out puppies for pet shops.
so your basically saying you want all mongrel breeds to die out and they are no good.and only pedigree breeds that cost a fortune should be allowed to roam the earth.dont get me wrong, i dont agree with puppy mills or animal cruelty, my puppy is a 'bitsa' as we call them in aus, and he is a perfect healthy and gorgeous little boy. he was also free from someones back yard. female dogs are born with a uterus for a reason, and if a male from another breed happens to get a leg over then its not exactly a bad thing. And sometimes you get the most loyal and perfect of animals from mixed breed.
Yeah well at least we are doing it to make stupid cat toys with! Don't ever insinuate that we are as we aren't. And as for not allowing backyard puppies to have a home, what kind of person are you? If these puppies aren't given homes they are destroyed. That isn't fair at all. And pet shop puppies over here are either part breeds, mixed breeds or pedigrees. I will not let anyone stand there and say to me not to get a mixed breed, pet shop puppy, or backyard puppy just because they want over priced breeders to sell more puppies. I think that it is unfair for you to say that a puppy from a backyard should not be given a home. It is live animal and deserves as much of a chance as any other puppy. If this is the case does it apply to EVERY other pet? I am sorry but that is just outrageous I would never encourage anything like that in my life as all animals deserve the same chance in life. They all deserve love and protection and to have a home and live safely providing love and joy to a family or single person what ever the case may be.
Whether a puppy is a pedigree or not doesn't matter. So many people have gotten puppies from back yards and pet shops and they have grown up to be some of the most loyal dogs ever. I don't know how anyone could ever want to see harm come to these dogs. It repulses me to the bone. I have never got a pedigree dog and every dog that my family has ever owned has been loyal, obedient and loving. I had a pup a few years ago now and the owner had ill treated it and it was so timid and afraid. After a month that dog was so loyal to me and so friendly it wasn't funny. I could leave the dog in a room with a new born baby and it wouldn't go anywhere near it at all. A friend of mine has a mixed breed she picked up from a backyard as you would say and that dog has served her well. She can leave her child with that dog in the back yard and that dog won't let any harm come to her. So are you telling me that she did the wrong thing? Her children are safe with the dog around, they love the dog and the dog lvoes them. Is that wrong? How can you justify saying that EVERYONE should pay out hundreds and hundreds of dollars for a pedigree dog from a proper breeder when they can get an amazing dog from a pet store or a back yard? How can you tell people what they should and shouldn't do? I am sorry but I don't see that as fair. My family owned a beautiful German Shepard years ago now. She couldn't jump at all, we had to lift her into our car. She got pregnant though. Yes it comes from irresponsible owners who can't control their own dogs. This happens all the time and how can you say to me that if that happened to a dog I woned that I should destroy the puppies lives and not give them a chance to live? Would you say that about a human child? Sorry but I firmly believe a life brought into this workd deserves every chance to live it and live it happily. If you can't see that then I feel sorry for you. I really do.
I didn't insinuate anything There's no need for the attack. We don't make toys out of cat or dog skin, I was just pointing out that Australia also has a lot of puppy farms? Hundreds of dogs are killed in shelters, rescues and pounds every day because no one wants them All these dogs are being bred and there aren't enough owners for them. The reason we're so against backyard breeders and pet shops is because they're being bred in an inhumane manner by people who don't care about the animals. I personally love mutts and crosses, too...I own two, a little Corgi X Sibe from the RSCPA and a Staffy X Greyhound from a rescue. I also own a rescue Sibe. All the puppies in pet stores have been bred by puppy mills and while they do need homes, what about their parents? Their parents are sitting in a factory somewhere in disgusting conditions being bred over and over until they die. Also, a lot of pet store puppies cost more than purebred, pedigreed dogs. You can get a Maltishoo in a pet store these days for $1500 or you could get a purebred, pedigreed Maltese or Poodle for $500-$800. As I said before, every single animal deserves a home, including pet store puppies and backyard bred puppies. The problem is that, to give them a home, you need to support puppy mills or backyard breeders which isn't a good thing. Our argument is not that there should be no such thing as crossbreeds or mutts or that they should all die...we just want them to stop being bred in such appalling conditions by people who don't care about them. If you'd like to learn more about it, you might want to read these- Say No To Animals In Pet Shops - Put A Stop To Puppy Farms and Mass Breeding A Dog I Sold Is Half Dead. - Dogz Online Forums I'm sorry if you misinterpreted my post or if it offended you, that was not my intention. Our main cause is to achieve what is best for all dogs and to stop them being bred and brought up in terrible places; not to wipe out crossbreeds and mutts. Our problem is not with the dogs being bred, it's with the people who are breeding them.
Fair enough and that is a good response to my replies. But the thing is that not every pup put into a pet shop is from a puppy mill and would you quite happily see these puppies be put to sleep as they can't get a home? I dont' condone puppy mills at all and I donate every year to the RSPCA and another organisation against animal cruelty. At the moment I don't have a dog as I live with my parents. But they have a dog who was a pet shop dog and he was only taken in as he was going to be destroyed other wise. We also got a dog when I was only little from our vet that was going to be destroyed as she was not the nicesst of looking dogs. She had an allergy to fleas and was oldish. But we had her for quite some time before she passed away. We gave that dog love and she gave it back to us. I am all for taking on a dog froma shelter, providing that it is safe to have around my children and when we are in the situation to get a dog of our own we will get one from a shelter. Not all back yard breeders breed inhumanely and they do care for the animal. You can't say they all are inhumanely breeding and care not for the animal as some do. If I give a home to a puppy that has come from a mill it is because I can't stand by and see an innocent victim in a nasty situation be put to sleep due to human kinds disgusting ways. It is not the animals at fault here, it is human kind. Why is it always the animals that have to suffer?
Honestly, I'd prefer to see these puppies going to rescues and then being adopted by someone who's going to love them to bits. A lot of the puppies that don't sell in pet stores get put to sleep and often get rehomed or given up when their owners get sick of them. I probably prefer shelter or rescue dogs over buying puppies anyway because they're less work, hehe. You're right, not all backyard breeders breed inhumanely. It's just a shame that they don't register so that they can be recognised by the ANKC and become ethical breeders. The animals are suffering for our mistakes and our greed. Puppy mills couldn't care less about the welfare of the dogs they breed, they just want money and the puppies have to suffer for them; it's disgusting. The animals have to suffer because so many people think their lives are worth less than ours and because so many people don't care about their welfare or just don't understand how a lot of them are being bred And unfortunately, people don't consider the lives of the puppies' parents, they only think about the puppy. While some people may think be saving puppies from pet stores when they buy them, they're still helping to fuel puppy mills, even if accidentally. The main problem is just that people don't know a lot about dog breeding or where their puppy is coming from; most of them just want a loving family pet. So that's why we try to educate as many people as possible
I can understand that completely. I mean a lot of people are uneducated about such things. But there are also a lot that are. I feel bad for the adult dogs that are being ill treated this way. I know how badly these dogs are being treated and it makes me sick and I wish I could do something to stop it. But there is not a lot that I can do that I am not already doing. It is good to know that there are places people can become educated about this sort of thing as well. Sorry if my posts were offensive and rude. I get very hot headed when it comes to animal cruelty as I have witnessed so much of it. My family have rescued many animals over our life time. Horses right through to birds. It breaks my heart to see and know of animals being ill treated. That is why I do everything that I can to help out and why I donate to the RSPCA every year and another organisation that helps fight animal cruelty world wide.
Definitely...and more and more people are becoming a lot more educated. Every person who's willing to listen and learn about breeding, rescuing, dogs in general, makes a difference. Seeing pictures of dogs from puppy mills makes me sick, it's just awful to witness the conditions they're in and the way they're being treated. Fortunately, a lot of people are learning more about them and being turned off pet stores I'm the same as you, I can get very upset over dog issues. It drives me insane seeing people who know they're abusing or contributing to the maltreatment animals and don't care.
Yes but at the same time I can't stand by and let a puppy be destroyed because it hasn't got a home to go to. Hopefully one day these mills stop producing puppies for their furs and to line their pockets by mass producing puppies for sale in pet stores. But the whole time they are selling them at pet stores, people will continue to buy them as people ALWAYS fall soft when they look into the eyes of a tiny little puppy dog.
I agree...it's so hard watching them get put down...I could never work for a shelter because you would have to witness it on a regular basis. My Staffy X was about to be PTS before I rescued her because no one wanted her and she was starting to go nuts from being kept in a kennel for so long each day. My friend owns the rescue she was in and really didn't want to make the decision, but it was getting to the point where she had no choice so I decided to grab her. I don't think they'll ever be stopped, but every little bit makes a difference. The best thing to do would be to ban dogs and cats being sold in pet stores, but then all the remaining ones would have nowhere to go.
