Lancaster is Home to More than Amish

After yesterday's self-indulgent post, I am happy to report that the new regime of medicine seems to be kicking in and I am slowly beginning to feel like a person again! In fact, I felt well enough to make the trek to Dickinson College yesterday afternoon to watch my daughter's basketball team (Haverford College) get clobbered by the leaders in their conference. In fact, it seems as if I have been spending a fair amount of time lately following this team west on the PA. turnpike to play their conference rivals.

Which is how I came to notice the billboards that dot the turnpike in the vicinity of Lancaster, Pa. reminding me that this picturesque countryside harbors some of the country's most notorious puppy mills. The conditions in these breeding operations are horrendous and Main Line Animal Rescue has posted these billboards to shed light on these inhumane practices. One of the billboards that I read yesterday reminded travelers that it was against the law for puppy farmers to spread their fields with the cremated remains of their "crops." The second showed a picture of a beagle stuck in a dishwasher, with type that explained that a beagle puppy raised in a puppy mill could spend all of his life in a crate no larger than a dishwasher. Need I say more?

Pennsylvania now breeds more dogs than any state on the East Coast and has indeed earned the dubious distinction of being the puppy mill capital of the East coast. Governor Rendell is trying to crack down on the practices but legitimate kennel owners (fox hound owners in particular) are apparently up in arms against some of the bills that they feel would make it too expensive for them to maintain their packs.

"There's either livestock or dead stock," is an aphorism that is related to this practice. Puppies raised in these inhumane conditions are seen as commodities, means to an end, and not worthy of all the "fuss" being paid to their existence. Its hard to make that argument in this era of "pets as people" and even harder to justify selling ill puppies to those who don't know better.

If you are in the market for a dog, rescue one or make sure you know where it comes from. Better yet, join the fight to end puppy mills and raise awareness of these barbaric practices.