Oprah Shows Truth About Puppymills

For the last week, my inbox has been flooded with emails from rescuers around the country, advising me to watch the Oprah show on April 4 as she exposes puppymills. I've been in rescue a number of years now and just completed my humane leadership bachelor degree. There's not much more I can learn about puppymills, but I was interested to see a national talk show finally take on the dirty and often heartbreaking topic. And I was pleased.

The video footage shown was not much different than that I had to watch for classes, or those that I watched from other rescues that I helped coordinate puppymill busts transports. While it is not something I have had to be involved in locally, I am aware that these places exist very nearby to me and have worked with a couple of other rescuers to go through the proper authorities to see them shut down. Sadly, it still hasn't happened yet. I continue to see these puppies sold at our local flea market, noticeably younger than the breeder says and shouldn't be away from their mom yet, and often lacking any sort of social skills. I've been by on cold days when I was wrapped in my warmest jacket (ok, windbreaker as we are in the South), and saw these babies completely exposed to the elements while their breeders sat wrapped in warm jackets or even blankets. I've been on incredibly hot days where I was sure I would pass out from the heat and excessive thirst and not even seen water available to these pets. There is little value given to their wellbeing; they are a commodity, and these breeders prey on the compassion of those that walk by.

Even after the puppymill footage was shown on Oprah, I was more amazed that they took it further to show the reality of animal shelters and the euthanasia process. I had to admit, what they shown was almost sugar-coated. All the animals walked willingly with their handler and sat well on the euthanasia table. I know that's not how it always is because I've been involved in the euthanasia process before.

Last year, I worked for a couple months at our local animal control, back when the gas chamber was still the primary method for euthanasia. I had always only been in the shelter as an animal rescuer; I had the good job because I was there to save the pets. So I felt it was important for me to fully understand my mission and the importance of our work and to do so, I needed to participate in the euthanasia process. The guys asked me if I was sure I could handle it, knowing that animal rescuers are incredibly compassionate people who do shed tears often. I've prided myself at only crying in private due to the nature of a lot of the cases we take, so I told them I'd be fine.

I can still remember every little detail of that first day. We did the dogs first. What you don't see on the Oprah footage are the dogs who know something is going on and use all their strength to stay put or try to fight you at the cage to stay away from them. Even after being given a tranquilizer, some still fought to have control, wobbling, trying to stand up and get away. They don't understand that this is your job, to take up for other people's irresponsibility. And it's a hard job. All I wanted to do was hold each pet before we did anything, but there's no time for that. We had a time frame by which we were to be done before members of the public came through the shelter so they would not see the truth that takes place. The worst for me was the kittens. There were so many of them, and the mound was so big by the time I was finished placing them all in the chamber cage. Once the door was closed, I left the room. It was then my job to take all the cage cards and fill out the euthanasia log. I wrote down 47 animal ids that morning. They didn't have names, just numbers, and most were never given much of a description past DSH (domestic short hair for cats) or Mix for dogs, where the majority had the word "Pit" in front.

And that was part of my job four days a week for two months. Some days there were less, others more. But it never got easier. I still cried when I got home, thinking about the ones that should have had a chance but never will.

So thank you, Oprah, for showing the rest of the world what too many people try to ignore.