Getting a new animal should be a joyous time, but what are the circumstances behind that precious puppy?
Glamorous Puppies Have a Not So Glamorous Start
Don't Shop Adopt, Your Christmas Present Could Save a Life
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Glamorous Puppies Have a Not So Glamorous Start
By: Krystal White
We have all seen the ASPCA commercials with the Sarah McLachlan
song chiming over pictures of caged animals, but have you really thought about
what is happening to that puppy? Puppy Mills by definition are, “an
establishment that breeds puppies for sale, typically on an intensive basis and
in conditions regarded as inhumane,” according to Merriam Webster.
The word puppy mill is familiar in
the Cobb County vocabulary, with our neighboring county being home to one of
the largest puppy mill raids to date. 357 puppies were rescued from inhumane
living conditions in Cherokee County, with their future market being possibly a local retailer,
PetLand.
PetLand?
The place we all play with puppies when we need a stress break? While the
owners of PetLand and their employees say that their puppies come from
respectful breeders, that isn’t always the case.
The Conditions of a Puppy Mill
Sadie
Flesher, a former PetLand employee and sophomore at Kennesaw State, says the
conditions are worse than words can explain. “The dogs are bred every single
time they go into heat, living in the small cage until they are pregnant with
the next litter,” Flesher remarks. “These cages are smaller than the
recommended crate size and are the only home they know.”
With floors covered in feces and
the dogs not being groomed properly the lavish breeds are not as glamour as
expected. Many of the dogs become ill due to the conditions but are still sold
off to local pet shops to be taken home.
Purebred dogs not purely healthy
While
the puppy in the window may look energetic and full of life, that little dog
may be sicker than you know. With the living conditions of the pet store
similar to that of the puppy mill diseases like mange and kennel cough are side
effects of the tight confined space.
“I
got Olly from PetLand knowing she came from a puppy mill,” Flesher said. “This
little puppy stole my heart, and I knew the problems she could have later in
life.” Olly, Sadie’s now 8-month-old Australian Sheppard had kennel cough, a
discovery she made shortly after bringing her home.
Sadie Flesh, former PetLand employee (photo by: Krystal White)
The
cost to having a sick purebred puppy holds a similar price tag to purchasing
the animal. Sarah Potts, a senior at Kennesaw, too got her puppy at PetLand. “Bella
had mange shortly after I brought her home, it cost me a few hundred dollars
and countless months to get her healthy,” said Potts.
Veterinary
bills are a tremendous portion of owning any animal, and should always be taken
into account before getting any animal. But when being promised a healthy
animal from pet stores, these unforeseen medical cost can become a heavy
expense.
PetLand, and why Kennesaw wants it gone.
There is currently a Facebook Group seeking to shut down
PetLand due to their connection with puppy mills and the living conditions of
their animals. Driving by the store on any given day presents an opportunity to
see a protestor standing on the sidewalk in front of the stores shopping
center.
“We
were trained what to tell the customer regarding where the puppies came from,”
stated Sadie. “While working there I could never admit to knowing where the
puppies come from. We would have large amounts of puppies come in sick and sell
them to the public as a healthy dog. It made me feel terrible.”
The
hope behind the Facebook group is to promote enough public interest to shut
down PetLand and promote other ways of getting pets. The conditions with which PetLand contains their animals is
not healthy, safe or in the best interest of the dogs. Just remember when
looking for animals there are plenty of alternatives.
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
Don’t shop adopt, your Christmas present could save a life.
Atlanta is known for being home to the highest shelter kill
rate in America. The euthanasia rate is approximately at 50 percent, leaving
2.7 million animals being euthanized each year nationally according to the Humane Society . Shannon Kavanugh, a
junior at Kennesaw State University, is an advocate for the “don’t shop adopt”
movement and herself has rescued countless animals to date.
“There
are hundreds of animals waiting to be save, many of which can be the specific
bread you want,” Kavanugh said. “ Atlanta is home to many puppy mill bust, and
when these bust happen the animals enter shelters and are then ready for
adoption.”
With the holiday season under way
so is the search for the perfect four-legged friend. The ASPCA knows that
people will be critical of the breed of puppies entering their family, to which
they suggest purchasing from as AKC certified breeder.
“It’s not the bread that matters, it’s
the love and personality provided by the animal that makes the apart of your
family,” commented Kavanugh. “If you’re going to make them family, why not save
their life?”
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Headline
The sentence describing the story.
Maybe two sentences. No more than that.
I really don’t want a lot here.
Headline for the main story
By Your Name
Then
do a lead that is not a repeat of the paragraph on the layer one page. Assume
the reader did not read the paragraph on the layer one page.
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After three
or four graphs, put in a subhead.
Subhead one
Then
keep going with the story. If you refer to the sidebar topic, underline it and
parentheses the headline for the sidebar as if it were a link (headline
of sidebar). If you refer to your external link be sure to put it in
parentheses also (www.externallink.com).
Insert your
graphic (picture) where appropriate and don’t forget to say in the caption who
took the picture. If it’s not immediately clear or obvious what the picture is
or who the picture is of, put the person’s name or a brief description of the
scene in the caption as well. You could also post your graphic in a separate
post. If you do that, be sure to put a headline on the graphic post and link
that headline on the homepage. (see below)
Carolyn S. Carlson, Photo by Jake McNeill
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As;dlfk
sa’dfl; k;sal f
Adsl;fk s’adl;f ka;sdlf
As;ldfk
‘sal;df ks’dl;a
Asdfl;k s’adl;fk s;dlf ka
Sa;ldf
k’asl;df ksdl;a
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Subhead two
Asdfk
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Headline for sidebar one
Assume that your reader did not
read the main story. Reintroduce your interviewees. Tell them again the main
topic. And make sure you have a nut graph that tells them the point of the
sidebar.
Your
sidebar should be about 200-300 words long. One page or a page and a half is
plenty.
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kl;’ asd fl;ka;’sldf
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