A recent exposure by Australia’s Cleo Magazine of puppy factories selling puppies overseas to Singapore has been called the new live export scandal in Australia.
It is believed that backyard breeders and puppy mills sell their young stock to overseas markets to be placed in pet shops and their owners are making thousands from them. The are being advertised as having the best Australian bloodlines and their new buyers have no idea that they’ve spent the eight weeks of their life so far trapped in a cage, living in their own excrement’s, often with all their brothers and sisters.
The founder of the animal welfare group “Oscar’s Law”, Debra Tranter, said to CLEO Magazine that: “The entire trade is based on consumer fraud, cruelty and lies, from the Australian puppy factories, the broker, the pet shops, the online trading sites, the transport companies who send puppies in bulk weekly around Australia or to overseas pet shops.” The exploitation of these puppies is able to continue due to the very weak regulations for breeders and the industry, in particular that of the pet shop industry thrives off the cute-faced big eyed bundles of joy, shedding little or no light on what goes on for the first 8 weeks of their lives, its completely disregarded.
A similar discovery was made by Animals Australia at the Pyramid Hill puppy factory, which after a 4 month investigation by the organization was finally shut down as a result of the dogs inside the dark tin shed where they were being kept, were living in squalor and being sold to pet-shops and the like for top dollar.
A shocking 95% of all puppies in pet shops have come from puppy factories where most of the dogs have been bred in the derelict conditions, whilst their perspective buyers have no idea what their new bundle of joy has come from. 150 dogs and puppies were rescued from this puppy factory thanks to the efforts of RSPCA Victoria and Loddon Shire Council.
Aiyana Levin 