Why Are We Still Breeding and Buying Pets?

575: A number to remember

The cruelty in puppy mills is no secret. Cruel conditions are exposed to the public more often than ever before; people are protesting pet stores; Oprah’s on board. Well, I’d like to take a step back from looking at the obvious cruelty known to take place in puppy mills, and look at the issue from a slightly different angle.

Consider the 575 Project. It’s an art exhibit by Best Friends resident artist Cyrus Mejia. Here is Cyrus’ statement about the 575 Project:

Last year between four and five million unwanted pets were put to death in U.S. shelters. Five million would be 13,800 every day, 575 dogs and cats killed every hour. The 575 Project is a memorial to these unwanted pets.

Powerful, isn’t it? Cyrus took this staggering number and turned it into art pieces that make it more than just a number; he made it something real, something to look at and touch. 575 collars from shelter dogs are wrapped around a dog house. 75 Ceramic ravens fly upward, each with a canceled shelter rabies tag on its back. They spiral around 500 more canceled tags. A piece called the “Screen of Defense” at first appears to be a line drawing of a dog and cat, but upon closer inspection, one can see that the entire drawing is made up of 575 actual reasons, collected from shelters, that people gave up their pets. Click the photo for detail views

My question is this: While we, as a nation are killing 575 pets every hour, how can anyone in good conscious breed more?

Breeding or allowing “just a few” litters of puppies or kittens adds to the problem. But then there are the thousands of people around the country who breed, raise and sell hundreds, if not thousands of pets every year. Why don’t they care about the 575 killed every hour?

Labs for sale on the Internet:

Labs on puppyfind: 1,198

Labs on Nextdaypets: 346

Labs on Breedersclub.net: (no total given)

There are over 19,000 Labrador Retrievers and mixes listed on Petfinder.com, right now, looking for homes. Why would anyone buy when dogs like this one are looking for homes? (Click the photo to learn more about him, available for adoption from Midwest Labrador Retriever Rescue)

I know the answer(s) to the question I asked above. People who breed their pets:

a.) Don’t realize that millions of pets are killed because no one wants them

b.) Don’t care; they’re in it for the money

c.) Don’t believe that the puppies they raise would ever end up in a shelter.

Approximately five million pets are bred in commercial facilities each year. Approximately five million pets die in shelters. This is not difficult math.

I wish every person who bred animals would take a minute to learn about the 575 Project. Go to the website, go to the exhibit, buy the book, and think about what they’re doing. I wish every person about to buy a pet instead of adopting one would do the same.

It's time that we, as intelligent, socially responsible people decide to stop breeding and buying pets until we aren't killing nearly 14,000, a day or 575 every hour.



What You Can Do

Order the book: stores.lulu.com/575

Visit the website: www.cyrusmejia.com/575project

Go to the exhibit: Dixie State College

November 12 – January 16

Reception: Nov 14, 7-9 PM, Art Talk by Cyrus Mejia

Download"Nine things you can do to help stop puppy mills"

Photo: Empty Nest, 575 butterflies cut from shelter cage ID cards and attached to plexiglass rods. The butterflies are displayed flying from a stainless steel cage like those used in animal shelters. Shown here as it was displayed in the rotunda of the Russell Senate Office Building, in Washington DC, May, 2004. (Main photo is a detail of a cage card butterfly

Story by Kelli Ohrtman