Ethical Animal Breeders are Being Crushed by the Media

There has been much in the media pertaining to animal abuse, pet mills, hoarders and pet stores that buy from pet mills. The general public has jumped on the band wagon. Anyone wishing to buy a pet is paranoid. Ethical animal breeders are being accused of being pet mills.

With all the news as of late it is becoming very difficult for ethical animal breeders to maintain a thriving business. Yes, they should be allowed to make money from raising these animals. Raising animals is difficult work, many long days and sometimes nights of worry. Things do not always go smoothly, even for the best of ethical animal breeders. There are times when birthing goes wrong. The ethical animal breeder will be up all night on an emergency trip to the veterinarians office or out in the barn with him assisting a breach birth. This cost money and time. The ethical animal breeder works very hard cleaning up after and caring for their animals. It is sometimes more than a regular job to them. They get up early in the morning and immediately start feeding, watering and socializing their animals. They spend a part of the day with each one of them. They stop for breakfast, lunch and dinner and just like all working people they work all day.

Do you really think they have it so easy? Not a chance. They don't get to sit down and watch TV after dinner, it is time for the evening feeding. If they are lucky this night will not bring any surprises.

Why do people insist that they should not make a profit for all their efforts. When they are working very hard, their animals are pedigreed, pure bred, well fed, medically sound and up to date on shots. There is still the issue of placing their animals in proper homes, ethical breeders are very selective about the homes their animals are placed in. They will ask numerous questions and provide abundant information. Many transactions are done online making it impossible to show their facility. If, however it is possible they will be happy to show their perspective buyers around. They have healthy, happy animals. The facilities may not be perfectly clean but it will be obvious they are cleaned on a regular basis. The animals are happy to see them and come to the ethical breeder for affection. No these ethical breeders are not in business just for the money but they deserve an income for all their efforts.

A facility such is as described in the previous paragraph is not a puppy mill, though they may have as many as sixty animals or more. They are also not hoarders.

Hoarders are people who collect animals but are ignorant of how to care for them. They may love animals and mean well and may be convinced they are saving the animals. Hoarders may even go without food themselves, to justify not feeding the animals. They feed poor quality food or table scraps. They allow the animals to become inbred and do not prevent mixed breeding. They do not provide health care or administer shots. They go to shelters to collect animals, truly believing they are saving the animals. Many hoarders are elderly or uneducated people. Generally speaking hoarders do not sell animals.

There is now an abundance of animosity against ethical animal breeders. The public has become very confused as to what the difference is in these types of pet providers. Ethical aBnimal breeders are finding themselves having to defend their right to make a profit from all their hard work. Ethical animal breeders must defend themselves against a constant barrage of accusations. One disgruntled customer can essentially ruin an ethical breeder by crying “pet mill.” Even the most ethical of animal breeders will eventually have a disgruntled customer. This will generally be someone who purchased an animal and had to move and could not keep the pet in the new circumstances and now expects a full refund of the price they paid. Possibly they expect the breeder to pay the shipping cost to return it. Usually something that the ethical animal breeder should not be held responsible for. The pet owner now becomes angry because they did not get what they wanted and decides to get revenge. This ethical animal breeder is now a target.

The disgruntled customer now spreads the word that this ethical animal breeder is a pet mill, hoarder or abuses their animals. They may report them to authorities and the Better Business Bureau. There are trouble makers from all walks of life who for some unknown reason must destroy the reputations of others. Because of all the attention the media has given to pet mills, hoarders and abuse cases without being clear about the description of each of these categories the ethical breeder has become the target of the extremists and are being essentially crushed by the media.

It is fantastic that the media is giving attention to these horrific cases, however they should be careful to define the differences between these heartless profiteers and the ethical animal breeder.

My final comment is that people should be careful who they purchase a pet from, however there are many wonderful ethical breeders that will happily help you to get the perfect animal you are searching for.