Hello, everybody.

 

A great big thanks is in order to all of you who took the time to offer meal suggestions.  I've received some tasty ideas.  Chilled angel hair pasta with lemon, vinegar and broccoli -- sounds good!  And one of you also recommended a book for easy recipes -- another good idea.  I've already looked it up online.  Again, a sincere thank you.  I always look forward to the comments so keep posting them. 

 

This week's topic is more serious.  On Saturday, we reported a story about the Wisconsin Humane Society purchasing a large scale dog breeding operation -- Puppy Haven Kennels in Green Lake County.  It is considered the largest such facility in the state with more than 1, 000 dogs on site.  The organization already has taken some dogs from the property but is picking up more dogs on Monday, taking the most vulnerable at first, we're told.

 

The Wisconsin Humane Society is purchasing the assets, taking the dogs and eventually, placing them in homes.  It's not disclosing the price but says the owner is selling at a discount.

 

The president of the board of the society calls the move "groundbreaking."  Wallace Havens, who has owned the facility, is quoted in a news release as saying "selling the kennel assets to the Wisconsin Humane Society is the best choice ... because the dogs that I bred will be in the best possible hands."

   

The dogs, of course, will be placed in homes, but the society also says it hopes the action will compel people to call for "stronger laws and regulations to end exploitation of breeding dogs."

 

You see, many refer to mass breeding operations as puppy mills.  Conditions vary, but their purpose is to breed puppies -- lots of them, while the breeding dogs spend their lives in confined spaces and without true human companionship.  The Humane Society of the United States has a campaign dedicated to puppy mills.  You can read about it at www.hsus.org

 

The Humane Society of the United States as well as the Wisconsin Humane Society discourage people from buying dogs at pet stores, which often sell dogs bred at puppy mills.  Recall, Oprah did a show about puppy mills which captured the hearts of many people.  She featured Main Line Animal Rescue, an organization which rescues dogs from puppy mills.  Under a picture of dogs in hutches on its website, a message reads "The day they leave their hutches, is the day they are destroyed for failing to produce puppies."  Main Line rescues those dogs. 

 

The issue is a complex one with conditions varying widely, but I encourage you read some of the information below, come to your own conclusions and pass it along.  Thanks for reading.

 

You can read an in-depth article by the Wisconsin State Journal about Puppy Haven Kennels at the web address below:

 

To learn more about the purchase by the Wisconsin Humane Society or to help the organization, visit its website:

 

Check out Main Line Animal Rescue too: