commercialisation of pets

The way society treats our "best friends" is appalling and utterly cruel! We allow backyard and "puppy farm" breeders to breed puppies to sell at markets, on the Internet and in pet shops. They are bred to generate profits. This happens while we have overflowing pounds and shelters. It is totally shameful. There are all sorts of reasons for surrendering pets, including lack of training and behaviour problems, lack of room, too busy, not allowed by landlords, etc etc. It is just to easy to acquire and dispose of dogs and cats due impulse buying, pet overpopulation and their commercialisation. Over 200,000 cats and dogs are "put down" each year because they are homeless. There are thousands sold on impulse and there is a good chance that many will be abandoned over the following 12 months. Pet shops promote battery breeding in puppy farms, and impulse buying, by having their wares as shelf items. The government allows the indiscriminate breeding of dogs and cats but they do not cover the costs of rehabilitating and re-homing abandoned animals! This is left to charities. Animals adopted from a shelter must be desexed. Why wait until they have already been homeless? The breeding of animals for pet shops and markets needs to cease. Only approved breeders should sell dogs and cats to the public, and puppy farms should not be keeping animals in battery cages to supply puppies to an already saturated market. If pet shops sponsored ethical breeders, and shelters, the misery of killing homeless animals could be avoided. Profits should not justify everything! Where is compassion and common sense? Pets are being commercialised rather than being considered as deliberately adopted four-footed family members, or "best friends". Mandatory desexing and controlled breeding would stop this misery! www.saynotoanimalsinpetshops.com www.smh.com.au/news/lifeandstyle/pets/grim-end-for-christmas-puppies/2008/12/22/1229794326689.html www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=77&ContentID=114429