The following questions and concerns have been raised by some of our thoughtful website visitors. We have answered them to the best of our ability and hope that they are helpful for everyone to read.

What exactly is a "backyard breeder"?

The following excellent description was provided by www.allaboutpetswa.com in their section on puppy mills and backyard breeders. Thank you Rhonda for permission to use it:

A backyard breeder is anyone who breeds cats, dogs, rabbits etc, and can answer yes to one or more of the following;

Someone who breeds unregistered purebred animals and sells them as purebreds without papers
Someone who is looking for a quick buck
Someone who drastically undercuts the price of registered purebred breeders
Someone who does not care who buys their animals or for what purpose
Someone who lets animals go at seven weeks or younger (dogs / cats), so that they do not have to spend any money on vaccinations - nor do they have to approach a vet and admit to what they are doing
Someone who does not offer a health guarantee, contract or even take the phone number of buyers
Someone who will place their animals for sale in pet stores
Someone who has no thought or care to good companion animal husbandry
Someone who has no thought or care to genetic good health or defects.

You're being unfair to some Pet Shops. Many already don't sell animals or are simply trying to find homes for abandoned or homeless animals.

We know that there are many wonderful Pet Shop owners out there that don't sell animals, and others that put animals from rescue centres in their windows to find homes for them. These are NOT the ones perpetuating the problem. We encourage you to support ONLY these Pet Shops by buying all your pet accessories from them and telling all your friends and family to do the same.

Our campaign is to stop the over breeding of thousands of animals by puppy farms and backyard breeders and put them out of business. Unfortunately they do trade through many Pet Shops, so Pet Shops have become a big part of the problem. We certainly recognise that Pet Shops are not the only cause of the problem. But however you look at it, there are too many animals bred and not enough homes for them all. That's why so many are euthanased every year. ANYTHING we can do to stop excessive breeding and impulse selling will reduce the numbers killed. Animals should not be bred for profit only to end up being killed when the money has been made.

How do you know what's going on? Has anyone on your team of volunteers ever worked in a Pet Shop?

Yes, and in Animal Rescue Centres and in Pounds and as Foster Carers for abandoned animals, where we have quickly got an idea of the background of many abandoned animals. We have even been "undercover" as potential customers into many Pet Shops around Australia to see how they answer the questions that all potential pet owners should be asking. Such as "where has this puppy come from?" "Can I see its parents?" "What testing has been done to check for any hereditary diseases?" 'Is it de-sexed?" etc.

Surely Pet Shops could not possibly be responsible for 130,000 dogs and 60,000 cats put down each year?

We have NEVER said that Pet Shops are totally responsible for the deaths of approximately 130,000 dogs and 60,000 cats abandoned every year. We actually say on this web site, and I quote "Of course not all pound dogs and cats were originally bought from pet shops and discarded, but from discussions with pounds and rescue centres, we believe that many were." This is true.

But, Pet Shops can advise potential owners on nutrition, long terms costs, health issues, council issues. They can advise you if that puppy in the window is the right breed for you, if that kitten will be your life long friend, and how to look after it to the best of your ability. They often offer cooling off periods, where you may return that pet within a time frame if you feel you are unable to look after it and its best interests. So why are you against Pet Shops selling animals?

Pet Shops can do all this, and many do - probably the Pet Shop you own or work in or visit. But, in our experience with our "undercover" shoppers, it must be recognised that the majority are simply in business and a sale makes them money. So many do not make the kind of effort that you describe. For example, we have found strong willed working breeds being sold through popular Pet Shop franchises with little or no advice to potential owners on the ultimate size, amount of exercise and stimulation, vet costs and important training requirement of such breeds.

I do not know of any Pet Shop manager who would consent to buy a puppy from a puppy farm.

Puppy and kitten farms do exist. One was recently raided in VIC by Animal Liberation Victoria. These farms churn out thousands of animals every year - continually forcing dogs and cats to breed and have puppies and kittens. They obviously have to sell their "product" somewhere - through ads in newspapers, overseas, markets and Pet Shops.

Pets Shops have an Advisory Council, they are governed by a set of rules and ethics.

These rules and ethics seem to be more about how to keep and look after animals in the Pet Shops and not about WHERE those animals come from. We are not campaigning about how animals are cared for in Pet Shops. We want to STOP the indiscriminate breeding resulting in excessive numbers of dogs and cats by puppy farms and backstreet breeders by making sure they have NOWHERE to sell their animals for profit. Very soon they would cease business when there was no money to be made.

The people who work in Pets Shops are pet lovers just like you. In fact some are even vegetarians and wouldn't even dream of eating an animal...

I'm sure many are. This still doesn't solve the problem we are campaigning about. Most people we talk to are simply not aware of the issues.

Drop in to your local pet shop sometime, you will find that the people there are educated and are happy to advise.

Hmmm sorry - this completely misses the point. I'm sure they're happy to advise but WHERE did the puppies and kittens they stock in the window come from? Did they PAY someone for them? If so, they have now encouraged that backyard breeder or puppy farmer to go on breeding more and more ...

But Pet Shops need to sell puppies and kittens because it is convenient for people to buy a pet at their local shopping centre.

Oh dear! Just because it is convenient, this does not make it right ... in fact, the more effort that a potential pet owner has to go to in order to find their pet, the more likely they are to have thought it all through properly. And the less likely their pet will be abandoned or surrendered to the Pound later on. Please buy from the Pound or Animal Rescue Centre instead and save a life!

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Quotes

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world...indeed, it is the only thing that ever has!" Margaret Mead

"My doctrine is this: that if we see cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop, and we do nothing, we make ourselves sharers in the guilt." Anna Sewell, English Novelist

"For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love." Pythagoras

"What I think about vivisection is that if people admit that they have the right to take or endanger the life of living beings for the benefit of many, there will be no limit for their cruelty." Leo Tolstoy

"There are two categories of doctors and scientists supporting vivisection. Those that know nothing about it and those who profit from it". Dr Werner Hartinger

"For the animals it is an eternal Treblinka!" Isaac Singer

"How convenient that we (the 'good' people) love and protect cats and dogs while them (the 'bad' people) eat our four-legged friends. How convenient that we (the 'good' people) like our lamb with mint jelly, thank you. Let us put an end to this racist, culture bound hypocrisy. Eat cat and dog flesh? Unthinkable! Eat lamb or any other kind of flesh? No less so. Do the right thing. Go vegan!" Tom Regan, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, North Carolina State University

"There will come a day when such men as myself will view the slaughter of innocent creatures as horrible a crime as the murder of his fellow man. Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty". Albert Einstein

"If we are extremists, then we are not ashamed of it, the conditions that our people suffer are extreme and an extreme illness cannot be cured by moderate medicine". Malcolm X

"For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings, they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the Earth". Henry Beston

"He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals." Immanuel Kant

"Animals have feelings but in themselves those are not a proper object of respect. We have an indirect duty to respect animals not because of the animals feelings but because of the effects of the lack of respect towards animals would have on us and our behaviour". Immanuel Kant

"It can truly be said: Men are the devils of the earth, and the animals are the tormented souls." Arthur Schopenhauer