My outrage of the week...

[TreasonousBastard]

At least every other day I pass a place with huge "PUPPIES" signs.

"200 PUPPIES"

Cute plastic dogs all over the lawn.

Cute puppies bouncing around in the big front window.

But, you know where these puppies came from...

And it "serves" two towns that have recently had to double the size of their shelters.

Should I drop a nickel to the nearest PETA people?

[TZ]

1. ASPCA or Humane Society are FAR better

If you truly think its a puppy mill. There are MUCH more reputable when looking into this. PETA is more interested in promoting itself.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. They know, so do the towns, but...

there's little they can do without evidence of abuse at the store, and the store seems well run. There's little interest in investigating the source of the animals, which is usually out of state.

Several such places were shut down in Joisey years ago, but the stores themselves were abusing the animals, and that gave the counties the go-ahead to shut them down.

I'm not sure I have any right or responsibility to put them out of business just because I hate puppy mills in Pennsylvania, but I wouldn't object to some nutcases raising hell in front of the place for a while.

[TZ]

3. If you get nutcases raising hell in front of them

with no evidence of abuse, you are going to end up making martyrs of them and getting them sympathy. There isn't a situation that PETA can't make much worse IMHO. I hate the bastards to tell the truth.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

4. I'd ask flvegan what to do

He's helped to shut down a few puppy mills.

[flvegan]

5. Is this a puppy store (like Petland) or a house?

Are they just a storefront or are they breeding them on site?

[TreasonousBastard]

10. It's a store-- I don't think they're breeders....

which is why I would hesitate to take any real action. They might suck and support the puppy mills, but they're not abusers themselves.

[flvegan]

12. I still think you should take action. They're abuser enablers

and every dog they sell, in addition, kills a shelter dog. See if you have a local puppy mill activist group that can help you out. Otherwise, yeah, call PETA. Biggest corps of activists in the country.

[TreasonousBastard]

15. Oh crap! I answered myself-- see post #13

[TreasonousBastard]

13. As I mentioned in another post below it gets worse...

some of these puppies will end up in the shelters this fall. So, yeah, the store is a key element in the cycle of destruction.

Gotta to find out some more about them-- it is a legal business, after all, and this being still a fair amount of farm country, you don't see as much sympathy for any animals as you might see in some other places. But, maybe there is an underlying groundswell of disgust for the puppy trade...

On edit:

This is the place...
http://www.seeapuppy.com/

And here's an unkind review...
http://www.merchantcircle.com/business/The.Puppy.Experience.866-735-0850/review/list

[rcrush]

6. PETA will just kill them.

If it takes too long to find them a home they just put them down.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

7. You mean like most animal shelters across the country?

[rcrush]

8. Yeah

I dont think taking them to a shelter would be a good idea either. At least not a no kill shelter.

[Shell Beau]

9. I am not sure what you can do. Pet stores aren't illegal.

It is a shame that people still get their pets that way. Either they are ignorant to the facts of what goes on or just don't care.

[TreasonousBastard]

11. I can't really do anything, but that's not the end of the story...

this area is seasonal-- the population more than quadruples for the summer, and a serious problem out here is people leaving pets when they head back to the city in September.

Summer people are one thing, but summer cats and dogs are something else. After Labor Day we're on the lookout for dogs tied to phone poles and cats roaming backyards. One of my cats was one of the summer cats who showed up on my porch one winter looking for a handout and never left. Other cats end up feral and hunt the wild birds, like the piping plover which nests on the beaches here.

So, not only are these dogs very likely from puppy mills, but many of them will end up in our overcrowded shelters next winter.

(Line I heard on an NPR promo-- "Don't you think they'd neuter us if they had the chance?")

[Shell Beau]

14. That is such a shame. Some people are just stupid ass idiots.

How can someone leave an animal to die tied to a pole? Blows my mind. When you adopt a pet, a lot of times they will do some research on you and your home life, so to speak. I wish that was required any time you bought an animal.