by: Wayne Mayes

Driving down the winding back roads of America's
heartland our eyes take in the beauty of the world
around us as we listen to the radio and forget about the
cares of the world we live in. We feel the warm sun as
it shines down around us and look at all the trees and
wild flowers and wonder how things could get any better
than this as we roar on down the highway to our
destination.

If we were to turn off the highway on to almost any one
of the millions of miles of back roads in the heartland
of our country, turn the radio off, roll down our
windows and drive slow we would hear a much different
sound. We would hear the sounds of song birds singing in
the trees, we would hear the sounds of cattle as they
called to each other, and we would hear the sounds of
gravel as it crunched under our tires as we drove.

We wouldn't have to drive very far before we would hear
a much different sound way off in the distance. This
isn't the sound of some happy bird or the sound of any
cow as it calls to it's calf. It is the sound of an
animal in distress. It is the sounds of hundreds of poor
defenseless animals held prisoner because of greed. If
you followed the sound it would take you to some locked
gate with a sign that said, NO Trespassing, or Keep Out
and what lies behind the gate would be left up to your
imagination as you slowly turn around and drive away.

Let me tell you what lies past that gate and just out of
sight. The first thing you would hear is the sounds of
hundreds of animals whimpering and crying begging for
someone to help them. Your stomach would turn over as
the intense smell of ammonia drifted out through every
crack in the dilapidated buildings where the cries from
help came from. Your heart would be breaking as you
reached for the handle to the door of the first building
take a deep breath and try to hold it and rush inside.

As the light streamed inside the building the sounds of
the animals gets louder as some bark while others to
week to bark just lay and whimper. You would see rows of
tiny wire cages stacked one on top of the other where
the urine and feces of the animals above fell down on
the animals below. The piles of animal waist all along
under the bottom row of cages You would see them crammed
full of animals almost unrecognizable by any breeds you
know of. . You would see adults and puppies with missing
limbs from being attacked by other animals while trying
to get enough food to eat, injury from getting their
limbs caught in the holes in the cages, and from
mutilation by the miller. You would see animals that are
terrified of people because all they have ever known was
pain and exploitation at the hands of the millers. You
would see diseased and dying and dead animals in some of
the cages. One look in their eyes and you can see their
plea for help. "Please help me."

If you haven't already lost the cheese burger you had
for lunch in the first building we could venture into
the next building or room of the puppymill. Behind that
door you would see rows of cages full of mothers with
puppies. You would quickly notice the deformed faces of
many of the mother dogs and when you asked I would
explain how the millers break the jaws of the mother
dogs if they try to defend their puppies when the
brokers come. How most of these animals have never had
proper medical care and the broken bones are left to
heal on their own. You would see puppies so far from the
breed standard they looked like a totally different
breed than the one they were supposed to be. You might
see dead or sick puppies laying in the cages as the
others walked over them. Like the rock song says, "The
smell of death is around you."

If we had time to hang around we could wait for the
puppy broker to come. You would see a truck or van
stacked full from the floor to the ceiling with tiny
plastic cages. Many of them already crammed full of
puppies of every imaginable breed. All stacked in their
like cord wood. The sounds of hundreds of terrified
puppies waiting in those dark cramped quarters waiting
for their ride into the unknown. The broker will take
most of the puppies if they aren't to sick or so
deformed he can't sell them. He will take any puppy the
millers say is 8 weeks old. Many of the animals are
under 6 weeks but they are the right weight and size so
they are torn away from their mothers, by force at
times, and sold to the broker.

As we walk away from this place you remember back in
school when you read about the concentration camps
during WWII. This place is just like that. The animals
are abused and exploited until they are no longer
profitable to the miller and then they are sold and most
are killed. The females are breed every cycle from the
time they first come in heat until they die. The puppies
are sold to unsuspecting pet buyers all over the world
as registered animals and no mention is ever made about
the hell holes the parents live in or the genetic
problems the puppy has. The Animals in the puppymills
are truly prisoners of greed.

The next time you walk by a pet store stop and listen.
If you try you will be able to imagine the suffering and
pain it took to put that puppy in that window. The
broken jawed mother as she struggles to eat so she has
enough strength to go on another day. The tiny puppy
with the lower part of its leg missing because it was
torn off while trying to free it's self from the holes
in the wires of the cage it calls home or was eaten by
another dog because it was starving to death. The
whimpering of the animals as they beg for the tender
touch of a humane hand. The cries for help as they
slowly die from neglect and starvation.

People wonder why some rescue people do puppymill rescue
and now you know. They do whatever has to be done to
help end the suffering of the animals in these
places. You may not be able to go to a puppymill and
see the things many of us have but you can help end the
suffering right where you live. Tell everyone you know
not to buy products from pet stores that sell puppies
and kittens. When the demand goes away the mills will
close. Help by promoting rescued animals as an
alternative. Every animals that finds a new home from a
rescue group makes room for another to be saved by
rescue. Donate money to help purchase the freedom of a
puppymill baby. The animals at auctions can and many are
being rescued when the funds are available. Send a
little note to a rescue person thanking them for what
they do to save animals. It's easy to become burned out
in this business when we keep seeing so many animals
that desperately need our help.

Copyright � WM 2000 Wayne Mayes