Oprah takes a sad look at puppy mills!!
In this blog, I have always tried to stress the need to adopt your dog from a shelter or rescue organization or to purchase your dog from a legitimate breeder. We, in this country know that puppy mills exist, but most of us don’t seem to have a loud enough voice to get something done about them. For those of you who don’t know, puppy mills are places run by people who just reproduce dogs under deplorable conditions for the most profit they can make. It is said that most of the puppies found in pet shops come from puppy mills.
Well, we may now have a voice to which many will listen, because when Oprah speaks people listen. Oprah Winfrey recently dedicated one of her shows to the memory of her cocker spaniel who died on March 10, 2008. Oprah says of Sophie, “Sophie gave me 13 years of unconditional love. She was a true love in my life.” Because of this precious memory, the show to which Sophie is dedicated is an indepth look and puppy mills and the pain and suffering that these establishments bring on to so many dogs.
Bill Smith, founder of Main Line Animal Rescue, got Oprah’s attention along with many others, when he put up a billboard that said,”Oprah: Do a show on puppy mills. The dogs need you.”
When speaking to Oprah, Bill said, ,” Bill tells Oprah. “I know that you’re a huge animal lover. I just thought that you would be able to spread the word and educate a lot of people.” As a result, an Oprah show with Lisa Ling and the investigator travels with Bill Smith to get a true view of puppy mills in Pennsylvania. According to the Humane Society of the United States, there are over 10,000 of these horrible places across the country.
The hidden camera investigation was almost too much for viewers to handle as they watched the horrible conditions under which these dogs live and are bred. As a result of this visit, Bill Smith rescued 39 dogs, but there are so many more that will be simply put to death or die under the unsanitary and unsafe conditions where these dogs live.
The point of the show was to bring awareness to this atrocity. Mr. Smith feels that with Oprah’s voice behind the cause more people will take it seriously and perhaps get involved. In fact, Oprah’s plea to her views stated, “It is my belief that when you actually see this, America, with your own eyes,” Oprah says, “that you are not going stand for it.”
April 26th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Oprah should consider all Animal Cruelty including those performed by her staff and those people she features on her show. Take for example the experiments of Mehmet Oz, vice chair of surgery and professor of cardiac surgery at Columbia University. DiscoveryChannel.com featured Dr. Oz in a series called “Second Opinion” in which Dr. Oz’s philosophies on health are discussed. Dr. Oz is also a frequent guest on Oprah’s show and is featured on Oprah.com. Dr. Oz practices yoga routinely, and he believes that “anger and stress management are keys to his wellness.” Reading the records of the tormented dogs used in Dr. Oz’s cruel heart experiments is enough to send anyone fleeing to the nearest anger-management group.
Good thing Oprah’s Sophie was privileged and did not end up as one of Dr Oz’s experiments.
Columbia University Fined for Cruel Puppy Killings
Main Feature > Dogs’ Records
Oz Dog # 6313
Day 1: Surgery-sternotomy (an incision in the center of the chest that allows access to the heart) and RF ablation (radio frequency ablation, which is a non-surgical treatment for abnormal heart rhythms in which a long wire is passed into the heart) for Protocol AAAA 024-200 1. Read more.
Oz Dog # 6269
This dog’s chest was surgically opened and radio frequency ablation was done. The day after the surgery, records show that she was able to walk, but the misery was just beginning … Read more.
Oz Dog # 6406
Twenty-nine days of pain and suffering awaited this dog after her chest was opened to expose her heart for radio frequency ablation. Read more.