December 20, 2007

Letter to the Editor:

An alarming increase in the number of puppies being advertised for sale this holiday season by commercial kennels, pet stores and via the Internet leads me to caution prospective buyers: You may be unwittingly supporting a cruel and inhumane industry.

Many of these puppies come from large-scale factory operations - puppy mills - where dogs live in crowded, barren wire cages and are treated like production machines. These poor creatures never know the hand of human kindness.

In addition to the lifetime of appalling neglect the breeding dogs suffer, their puppies are also much more vulnerable to illnesses and disease due to the conditions in which they were born, with many falling ill or dying within days or weeks of purchase.

Please do not support this industry. Find a breed rescue group, a respected professional breeder or, best of all, visit an animal shelter, where hundreds of puppies and dogs, as well as kittens and cats, are waiting for loving homes.

Robert D. Rohde

President

Dumb Friends League

2080 S. Quebec St.

Denver, CO 80231