One of my favorite past times, along with taking Buzzfeed home designing quizzes, is daydreaming about a time in my (hopefully near) future where I’d be financially stable, have my own place, and own a pet. Honestly, I’d take stability in any form if I’m being honest- mental, emotional, financial, academic…
Anyway, my current life is not too far off from my daydreamed one, minus the “living on my own” aspect. The Xavierite gig sustains my Coffee Cat splurges and I have a furbaby of my own (his name is Buddy The Border Collie, and he will be nine in April).
As my bab becomes less of a baby and more like a middle aged man, I have become hyper aware of his own mortality and the fact that he might not be around when I am able to live on my own. As the result of recognizing the mortality of loved ones in any capacity, I naturally became clingy, and I am still working on accepting the fact that dogs (sadly) aren’t immortal.
Partly motivated by morbid curiosity, partly because it would be useful information years down the road, I did some research to see how much a Buddy 2.0 would cost in the long run. What initially started off as a general search query turned into a startling realization on how horrible certain aspects of the pet industry are. Now I was vaguely aware of how terrible the pet industry could be. After all, I wouldn’t be surprised if “adopt don’t shop” is an ad on some CTA bus somewhere, or if someone did their informative COM-101 speech on puppy mills.
“Puppy mills” is actually an interesting term. When said, the general imagery of Fido or Fluffy living in abhorrent conditions might pop into your head. Or maybe one of those ASPCA commercials with Sarah McLachlan petting a golden retriever as she asks the viewers to donate to the ASPCA.
A little refresher on puppy mills if you, like me, had a tendency to zone out and miss that speech about “adopt don’t shop.” Put simply, puppy mills are places where the bottom dollar is worth more than the animals themselves.
When a system starts to care more about the money rather than the life of another being is when all morals and ethics get thrown out the window. The animals are kept in cramped, over crowded spaces, the females are being continuously bred without reprieve, are killed when they can’t reproduce anymore, all of which result in reducing the animals to mere produce.
A myriad of health and developmental issues develop due to the trauma the animals experienced at an early age, along with the genetic defects due to the disregard of genetic quality.Puppy mills should be avoided at all costs, along with pet stores who typically purchase from puppy mills.
What I find interesting is that the majority of us can recognize that the idea of subjecting the family pet to those conditions is horrible, but not recognize our own disconnect from other animals who are put through similar inhumane conditions for monetary benefit. After all, most of us wouldn’t pick up a pound of poodle at the local deli to pack for lunch.
The conditions aforementioned in puppy mills are not wholly dissimilar to those in which we keep our chickens, cows, pigs, etc. in. In fact, the conditions we keep our livestock in are arguably worse than those of puppy mills due to the systematic wholesale slaughter and objectification of animals into items.
So why is it that we find one system of abuse inacceptable, while the other just a fact of life? Dogs and cows are both animals. Both species have a right to a life without human caused abuse.
If the general consensus is so against puppy mills, then that same energy should be just as strong against the meat industry. But it’s not. People love their bacon too much. I believe it to be hypocritical if I stand against puppy mills, yet buy a burger from the diner, or if I say I stand against the meat industry and pick up a Buddy 2.0 from the local pet shop. Systematic animal abuse is still animal abuse no matter the species.
James Cantu
Opinions Editor