Puppy Mills and Hoarders

By Sandy Kamen Wisniewski
Posted September 01, 2005

If you live in the suburbs of Chicago maybe you heard about the woman breeder who was housing 72 dogs-71 Chihuahuas and a papillon- in her town home in Wheeling. Someone who breeds dogs to sell them in overcrowded, dirty and stressful conditions, where the dogs are bred strictly for profit, are called puppy mill breeders. On the other hand people who live with dozens (or hundreds) of animals are called hoarders.

Puppy mill breeders are people who want to make fast money, the animals being tools to use and abuse. They couldn't care less about poor genetic bloodlines or the stress female dogs are under having puppies after puppies. Because they consider the animals' objects- not living, breathing, feeling animals- it would be easy to neglect and abuse.

Hoarders become hoarders for various reasons. Some never get their animals fixed-maybe they thought it would be neat to see puppies or kittens born- maybe they couldn't afford to sterilize their pet, and then their animals have offspring and the cycle begins. Maybe they don't get their animals spayed or neutered and the animal runs away or is allowed to roam the neighborhood and get together with another unaltered pet. Maybe they love animals but don't know when they have enough. One can only guess why hoarders hoard animals.

Both hoarders and puppy mill breeders are the same in that they have way too many animals, in poor conditions, and are in violation of many ordinances and laws. BUT the big difference is clear. The hoarder wants to keep the animals while the puppy mill breeder is in it strictly for the money. To me the puppy mill breeder is far more sinister.

There was a case not long ago in Vernon Hills where a woman had hundreds of cats living in her home. Many of the cats were sick, injured and some were dead. Many had to be put to sleep. The survivors were brought to a local shelter that then had to shoulder the burden of all those cats. It was horrific and a tragedy for all those poor cats. In my opinion this woman was sick. To live like that something has to be mentally wrong with you. Should she be jailed? How would jail help her to never do something like that again? Mandatory counseling, educational classes and fines along with ongoing checks of her property would make more sense to me.

As far as someone running a puppy mill, in my opinion, those people too are sick. But because their motivation is money alone, to me that is far worse than the hoarder. Maybe someone like that should spend some time in jail. They should never be allowed to breed again. They too should receive mandatory counseling, educational programs and be fined.

Education and counseling is ultimately what is going to make changes, but not in everyone. Regardless we must watch these people very closely so they can never hurt another animal again.

Puppy mills are atrocious for what they are but there is a bigger picture. For each dog born from a breeder- puppy mill or not- a dog or cat dies in a shelter. Six to 12 millions dogs and cats are put to sleep each year. (An exact number has been impossible to calculate.) This is no joke; I have seen the bodies of the dead animals after they were put to sleep stacked one on top of the other. It is not the fault of the shelters that they have to put animals to sleep; it is society's fault. If I was a shelter manager and the animals kept coming and space ran out, I too would have to make decisions. The shelters are just a result of what we have done and it is them who are picking up the pieces. Having all no-kill shelters is illogical and impossible because there are NOT ENOUGH HOMES FOR THE NUMBER OF ANIMALS NEEDING THEM, period.

That's why we must stop buying from pet stores, which only supports puppy mills. We must limit breeding because there are already too many animals. Laws must be enacted limiting breeding. We must first and foremost adopt and save what we can and LOWER the overpopulation. Finally, we all must spay and neuter our pets. Just think of the dog or cat, perfectly healthy, the ideal pet, it's life cut short too early because there is no home for him.