Friday, April 4, 2008 - Oprah dedicated this show to her dog Sophie
Oprah first saw a billboard in Chicago that urged her to do a show on puppy mills from Mainline Animal Rescue. Bill Smith from MLAR joined Lisa Ling and the Humane Society to do an investigation for the show on the commercial dog breading business. The way these mills work is that female dogs are forced into having as many litters as possible and the animals are treated like livestock and are just there to make money - most often being stored in cages and never allowed out.
Bill took Lisa along with him for his regular trips to the mills to get dogs that would otherwise be killed. Bill and Lisa visited a pet store to track where the dogs had come from. Bill shared that on a typical trip he picks up anywhere from 1 to 35 dogs - older females that can no longer reproduce and young males are high on the list since it only takes a few male dogs for many females to have puppies.
Lisa was shocked to see the kind of conditions that the animals are being born into and having to live in - muddy crates, never being washed or walked, cages stacked to the ceiling, never stepping foot on the ground, etc. On their trip around to see the mills, Bill and Lisa picked up 39 dogs but felt for the hundreds that they had to leave behind.
Bill explained that he formed relationships with the owners of the mills and that the better ones will give him the dogs instead of simply killing them. These mills are more common in Pennsylvania and Ohio where none of the actions are illegal.
Bill took Lisa to the shelter where the dogs that are rescued are brought - there they are groomed, well fed and are able to exercise and within 2 weeks differences start to emerge. Issues the shelter see with the dogs are matted fur, urine saturation on their fur, chains embedded in their necks, not knowing how to walk on the ground, damaged vocal cords so they can't bark, tumors caused by over-nursing and more.
Ways to avoid purchasing animals from puppy mills is to avoid pet stores and internet purchases and to stick to shelter dogs or responsible breeders who have been researched. Adopting from shelters will help to save the more than 4 million cats and dogs that are euthanized each year.
Many city shelters are forced to euthanize animals due to space and other causes, but some shelters have no kill policies - as is the case for one that Oprah's friend introduced her to. The Lange Foundation is a no kill shelter that goes to city shelters and takes animals that are unadoptable. After learning more about the foundation, Oprah made a donation and hopes that others will support the cause as well.
Oprah's cameras followed a worker from a shelter in Fort Worth where they must euthanize up to 40 animals per day for a number of reasons - illness, social skills, or just space. On the day Oprah's cameras were there, 18 dogs were put down and into body bags where they were frozen and finally put into a dumpster to be taken to the landfill. This type of action can be reduced by remembering to spay and neuter your pets. The process is rather simple as shown by Oprah's vet on the show - with just 10 minutes and anesthesia, a dog can be treated and ready to go home just 4 hours later.
Simple ways to make a difference include buying animals from shelters or responsible breeders, having your pets spayed or neutered and making donations to no kill shelters.
