Group Urges End to Abuse in Canadian Puppy Mills

Care 2, an activist organization, is asking citizens to sign an online petition due to many pet stores selling dogs coming from puppy mills.

"In order to make the greatest profit possible, dogs are continuously bred in very poor conditions," states the website. "What's worse, the horrible conditions of puppy mills are tolerated under current laws."

According to literature, Ontario is the first and only province to enact legislation that covers puppy mills, increasing punishment for animal cruelty.

To sign the petition, access http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/266934779.

Shannon Morgan, co-president of Animal Connection of Texas, part of a coalition of Texans Exposing Petland, one of the companies that has been in trouble for selling animals from puppy mills, says that the store has tried to hold pet adoptions before "so they'll look good to the public, but we got that aborted by talking to the rescue group about the puppy mill situation and thankfully, they canceled."

"The public is entirely too forgiving," writes Morgan. "As long as they're selling puppies, we will fight them."

Morgan stated that her group didn't want the rescue group not to be able to hold adoptions and that a local Petco took the puppies in for that Saturday.

"They (Petland) aren't doing this for the dogs," she wrote. "When they start holding weekly adoptions or selling only shelter/rescue dogs, then they can do all the fundraising they want and we'll support them. Better yet, I hope they go out of business. They are notorious liars and would probably get the usual shipment of puppies and say they were from a breed rescue, although they'd have to have paperwork to prove it."

Texas is said to be number one in animal cruelty, according to Johnnie England, former director of Operation Kindness, a no-kill animal shelter in Carrollton, TX.

Case in point: Nearly 500 dogs were seized from a Montague County ranch in Texas last summer and sent to the Humane Society when a justice of the peace ruled in a hearing. The breeding facility conditions were found to be cruel confinement and Carol and Cloyce Heddins, owners of Maggic Pets/Heddins Kennel were also ordered to pay the Humane Society of North Texas $40,000 for the cost of caring for the animals which were seized July 7 near Bowie.

Justice of the Peace Karen Reynolds said that several "family dogs" should be returned to their owners.

In unrelated animal news, a tortoise was relocated thanks to Cal Goodrich after the creature was found digging a hole to lay its eggs in the front lawn at 2807 Wyndham Lane in a high traffic area in Texas. (Source: neighborsgo.com).

In other animal news, the Jacksonville Zoo welcomed a baby giraffe to their population. Though the baby was a male, female giraffes are preferred, said Craig Miller, curator of mammals, because each zoo collection can generally only have one adult male. (http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2009-07-10/story/its_a_boy_zoo_welcomes_birth_of_baby_giraffe).

"The new addition brings the zoo's giraffe population to nine," a Florida Times-Union article states.