For those that missed it, The Oprah Show spent an hour showing the horrible conditions of the puppy mills that supply the pet stores with the pure bred puppies they offer for sale. Unfortunately, since
Missouri is one of the states with the highest concentrations of facilities just like these, we’ve seen the horrible realities these dogs endure firsthand through our evening news when the Missouri Humane Society is brought in to rescue the abused and neglected animals that live almost in our midst. They live out their lives in a feces and urine soaked environment, their feet never touching the ground. When they lose their breeding value, they are discarded (literally) as trash. As horrific as those sights were, the euthanization of the thousands of unwanted animals that are now languishing in kill shelters was even more disturbing. For animal lovers everywhere, the knowledge of the love and joy these creatures bring to our lives makes this almost unbearable to watch, because each one of those animals has the capacity to bring such joy, if only given the chance. The dogs that are least likely to be adopted are the large, black breeds. Large dogs in particular are most difficult to place and will be the first to be sent to their death due to their limited adoptability, unless they are fortunate enough to find their way to a no-kill shelter like the Randolph County Humane Society. Even at our shelter, we have to be cognizant of a dog’s adoptability when we agree to take them. In a perfect world we could take them all because people would be lined up at our door to bring them into their homes. However, in our less than perfect world this will never be the reality. Today, you can make a difference by having your animals spayed and neutered. That’s the first step to ending this problem.
And the next time you make the decision to bring a new friend into your home to share your life with, please make the RCHS your first stop. If we don’t have the dog of your dreams in our shelter at that time we are in daily contact with other shelters that will, and we can make your dreams come true, if you let us. Pure bred or Heinz 59, they’re all available.
Through the kindness of the volunteers and the support of people just like you, we continue our mission of saving animals, one life at a time.
