Florida: MOTHER'S DAY PET STORE PROTESTS PLANNED STATEWIDE

[Guest guest]

-

 

Adela/Total Animal Liberation

Bonnie k-9love @ cox.net (remove 2 spaces)

 

MOTHER'S DAY PET STORE PROTESTS PLANNED STATEWIDE

 

 

 

Media Release

CONTACT:

MARCY LAHART, ESQUIRE

711 TALLADEGA STREET

WEST PALM BEACH. FL 33405

561-655-9537

milahart @ bellsouth.net (remove 2 spaces)

 

May 3, 2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MOTHER'S DAY PET STORE PROTESTS PLANNED STATEWIDE

On Saturday, May 8, 2004 animal lovers statewide will be gathering in front of pet stores that sell puppies to draw attention to the ugly reality that is the lives of the mothers of pet store puppies.

Hundreds of thousands of puppies are bred on commercial breeding facilities known as "puppy mills" for sale in retail pet stores. Puppy mill puppies often suffer health and behavioral problems because of their poor breeding, lack of socialization and unsanitary mill conditions. These puppies are sold by pet stores to unsuspecting consumers that get their wallets lightened and their hearts broken when their new puppy gets deathly ill or develops genetic defects that require expensive veterinary treatment, treatment that pet stores routinely refuse to pay for in spite of legal requirements to the contrary.

One puppy mill victim is Karen Valente, whose son went to Hollywood, Florida's Puppy Palace and purchased a yellow Labrador Retriever " Mickey" as a mother's day present for her two years ago. After a few months, Mickey began limping, and a veterinary examination revealed that Mickey suffers from elbow dysplasia, hip dysplasia, enamel hypoplasia and an impacted canine tooth. "My vet says that this puppy is a genetic mess." says Valente, who has already spent thousands of dollars on surgery for Mickey, with more surgeries to come. Valente is one of many consumers that have sued Puppy Palace owner Judy Norford for fraud and deceptive and unconscionable business practices.

By far the most abused but least visible victims of the "purebred" puppy industry are the parents of pet store puppies. Females are bred the first time they come into season and every time thereafter. They are not anyone pets. Most puppy mill breeding stock have never even walked on grass because they live in wire cages their whole lives. They do not have toys to play with, they do not have beds to sleep in. They are never walked, or petted, or groomed. They often do not have shelter from extreme temperatures, and they lack basic veterinary care for their entire miserable lives.

For the mothers of pet store pups, Mother's Day will be as miserable as every other day until people stop creating a market for her offspring by buying from pet stores. According to Marcy LaHart, the West Palm Beach attorney representing Valente and many other pet store victims, "Purchasing a puppy from a pet store supports a cruel industry that churns out pedigreed puppies like factories turn out widgets. While kind-hearted people are often tempted to "rescue" the poor pet-shop puppies, what they are inadvertently doing is giving economic incentive to the inherently cruel system that created them. If anyone deserves sympathy, it is the mothers and fathers of those pet store puppies that will suffer in cramped cages for their entire miserable lives, with no one to rescue them."

More information concerning puppy mills can be found at :

www.prisonersofgreed.org

www.nopuppymills.com

www.puppymillrescue.com

Win a $20,000 Career Makeover at HotJobs