Part of an ongoing effort to educate the general public about the lies, myths, misconseptions and propaganda being promoted by animal rights activists.
Another popular trick the animal rights groups use to discredit commercial breeders is the use of statistics and information available from the inspection reports done on every licenced facility. It is easy to distort this infomation to make a simple thing seem like the animals are suffering a fate worse than death.
Let me tell you a little story about a pretty much normal day in the life of a dog breeder.
It's a very warm summer day. You've been working hard, shoveling gravel, scooping poop, feeding, and making sure all the dogs had a nice drink of fresh cold water, when you decided that you too are in dire need of some icy cold refreshment, and a bit of rest. There's a big old shade tree and a few lawn chairs out in frount of the kennel, just for this purpose. You've barely had time to sit down and pop a top, when you hear a great commotion going on out behind the kennel. Even without looking, you have a real good idea of what has just happened. Your little escape artist dog, Fuzzy Wuzzy has done it again! So, off you go, to see how she managed to get out this time.
Well, Little Fuzzy Wuzzy has managed to dig a hole deep enough to drop a Volkswagon into, why such a little dog needs such a big hole to crawl out of is beyond you, but never the less she has, and is now out running around teasing the other dogs, Ha Ha, I'm out and your not! and the rest of the dogs are voiceing their displeasure at a volume level that would wake the dead. It's definatly too warm for all this excitement, so you capture your little Houdini dog, and put her in a crate, for her own safty and until you can make some repairs. You put her in the same shady spot you were trying to enjoy only moments before, with a dish of water, but no food, as you will have her back in her own place in a few minutes anyway.
You gather your shovels and rakes and implements of destruction and begin to fill in the giant crator. You notice that Fuzzys pen mate, Pretty Girl, is still in the pen, watching you calmly, making no attempt to get out herself, she is not the trouble maker her friend is! You give her a nice petting and tell her what a good dog she is, and get to work fixing the damages.
And then the inspector shows up!
Well, no problem you think to yourself, after all, you did just finish cleaning everything, all the dogs have plenty of fresh water and feed, you figure that his timing is perfect and you will do just fine. Right?
Wrong!
You are in deep trouble!
It may be hard to believe, but the seemly innocent occurances of the past few minutes will cost you not one, not two, but....
11 VIOLATIONS OF THE ANIMAL WELFARE ACT!
Lets review the events, and allow me to explain how an inspector will view your kennel and it's condition.
Let's start with dear little Fuzzy Wuzzy in her crate. Now you know she was only going to be in there for 20 minutes or so, but it will do you absolutly NO good to tell the inspector that. He will write exactly what he sees at the moment he sees it. The crate Fuzzy is in is now considered her primary enclosure. It is not large enough for her, nor does it have 6 inches of head space above her head. So you have your first 2 violations.
Now, normally, you keep all you dogs in pens that far excede the minimum space requirements for USDA, so you have never had the need for a written program of exercise, but now Fuzzy will require one, you don't have one, so there's another violation! Now you can probably guess that the fact you gave her some water but not feed will get you one violation, but here's something you never thought about, breeders are required to keep forms filled out and updated as to the animals on the premises, which include information as to what pen the animals are in. Fuzzy has been moved, and is not in her pen of record, so there you go, a violation of record keeping! Your up to 5 now!
Fuzzy's excavating efforts naturally threw dirt every where, including into her dog house, and the feed and water pans. Each is a seperate violation. And the fact that Fuzzy's buddy, Pretty Girl, is still in the pen with the crater in it will earn you a violation for failing to maintain animals securly. And don't forget those tools you had, your shovel and rake are not supposed to be left out either! Thats 5 more!
Remember that cold one you were trying to enjoy? Well, a gentle summer breeze came along and blew it off on the ground. Regulations say the premises must be kept clear of trash, debries, and dead animals. That can constitutes trash, but the inspector writes the entire law out, so any animal rights person reading your inspection report will automaticlly assume you had dead dogs laying all over your kennel!
Hopefully this will help the general public understand what it is like to have to deal with the bumbbling beauracracy of government inspecters, and animal rights activist who use our inspection reports obtained through FOIA to discredit, mislead, and make breeders everywhere sound like the most horrible villians known to man! Please don't believe anything you hear from these activist groups. Remember, the worse they make us sound, the more important they can make themselves appear to be! Easier to keep those funds rolling in if people are misled into thinking that the poor little animals are living in such horrid conditions and that their contributions can make a difference.
Debarking the Animal Rights Myths
USABREEDERS information site
