puppies mills - Page 1

FRIDAY'S SHOW: Lisa Ling Investigates the Hidden World of Puppy Mills

Oprah is asking animal lovers to unite. Find out why it's important to know where a puppy really comes from before you take it home.

http://www.oprah.com/tows/coming/tows_coming.jhtml

Here's another view about Oprah's show to air tomorrow:Dog Owners' Oprah Alert

by JOHN YATES
The American Sporting Dog Alliance
http://www.american sportingdogallia nce.org

Dog owners might be in for another bashing on Friday, when ultra-
liberal talk show host Oprah Winfrey does a special program
on "puppy mills." Winfrey's star reporter, Lisa Ling, went
undercover in commercial breeding kennels to do an expose on the pet
store trade.

Although the commercial trade in pet store puppies has nothing to do
with the vast majority of dog owners and breeders, sensationalistic
news coverage tars us with the same brush. To the liberal animal
rights mindset, all breeders are either "puppy mills" or "backyard
breeders," and this always translates into more laws that harm only
the innocent. Moreover, the hidden agenda of the animal rights
movement is the ultimate elimination of animal ownership, and their
strategy is to pick us off one group at a time.

The American Sporting Dog Alliance (ASDA) does not know how Winfrey
and Ling will approach the topic, but we are not optimistic that it
will be a fair, balanced and reasonably objective report. Based on
the normal biased reporting we see about dog breeding, and Winfrey's
close personal ties with animal rights groups, we would expect them
to take their cameras into a couple of "worst case" kennels, and
then by inference say or imply that all kennels and breeders are bad.

Expect to take a thumping from one of the wealthiest and most
powerful animal rights activists on Earth. According to a report in
Women's Day magazine, billionaire Winfrey feels that leaving a cool
$30 million to her own five dogs in her will is not even slightly
extravagant. Inflation, you know.

Winfrey was partners with the radical Humane Society of the United
States in a movement aimed at destroying cattle ranching because of
alleged food safety issues from eating beef, and they were
codefendants in a lawsuit brought by the industry.

This month, Winfrey has been giving serious consideration to an
invitation to appear in nude photographs sponsored by one of the
most extreme animal rights groups in America, People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals, pop tabloids report. The nude photos would be
for PETA's "I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" campaign. Winfrey's
concern reportedly is not about endorsing PETA. The tabloids report
that she is worried that nude photos might offend voters and harm
the presidential campaign of Barrack Obama, whom she has strongly
endorsed.

On Friday, we can expect a thumping with no opportunity to defend
ourselves. The Winfrey/Ling style of journalism is to exploit highly
emotional topics and sensationalize them to twang the heartstrings
of a predominantly middle class audience of liberals who are looking
for the next "do-gooder" cause to embrace. It looks like saving the
whales or feeding starving people in Somalia aren't fashionable this
year. Pity the poor whales. Pity the poor Somali refugees.

And pity the poor dog owners! A campaign aga

And pity the poor dog owners! A campaign against dog owners and
breeders has become the latest fashionable cause for the glitz and
glitter crowd of celebrities.

The question is, what are we going to do about it?

For myself, I'm just plain sick and tired of being unfairly bashed.
I guess I just wasn't raised to be a punching bag.

But, you might be asking, how can we fight back against the
wealthiest and most powerful media mogul in America? How can we
fight that kind of power? How can we fight someone who wills $30
million to her dogs when we're trying to figure out how to pay last
month's electric bill?

I think we can do it, if we get off of our butts and actually do
it. There are hundreds of thousands of people who breed dogs because
they love them - show dogs, performing dogs, hunting dogs, obedience
dogs, field trial dogs, companion dogs and just plain dogs. In
addition, there are millions of dog owners who love their animals
and thank breeders for doing the fine job that they know we do in
improving temperament, genetic soundness, utility, beauty and health.

If we join together in this, we can be a formidable force.

My thoughts are that a boycott of Winfrey's advertisers would be the
most effective strategy. If several hundred thousand dog owners and
breeders were to contact advertisers on the Oprah show and refuse to
buy any of their products, they would be forced to take notice.

 

Please understand that I am not talking about censoring Winfrey's opinions. I would fight for her right to express any opinion she
chooses, and also for her right to present and endorse the views of
animal rights groups on her program.

However, journalistic ethics demands fairness, balance and
objectivity if programming purports to be reporting the news. If
Oprah wants to do a report on dog breeding, that's fine. But the
report should be fair to us and give us the opportunity to balance
the views of the animal rights groups with our side of the story.

I don't expect that Oprah will hold to the same standard of ethics
that I did as a newspaper reporter. I expect that her report will be
a hatchet job on dog owners and breeders. The promotional blog for
Friday's Oprah Show gives us an idea of what we can expect:
http://www.oprah. com/community/ thread/44908. Read it for yourself.

A boycott of advertisers just might convince Oprah to undergo an
ethical reformation. Most of her advertisers won't like the idea of
losing several hundred thousand customers so that Oprah can preach
sermons against dog owners and breeders.

When I worked on newspapers, there was a cynical wisecrack that my
bosses sometimes told me when they didn't like something I
wrote. "There is freedom of the press in America - for anyone who
owns a press." That meant I didn't own the press.

 

It takes a lot of money to own a TV show. Oprah has that kind of
money, and she earned it, but it has gone to her head. Now she
sneers at the rights and lives of ordinary people who made her a pop
star, and that includes dog owners and breeders.

The Internet is the great equalizer. One of the beauties of the
Internet is that it allows everyone to truly have the rights of free
speech and free press. The Internet has become the printing press of
ordinary people, and now it reaches a reported 80-percent of
American households.

Television represents the past, when Oprah's kind of money and power
controlled the right of a free press. The Internet has given us our
voice.

The American Sporting Dog Alliance is asking all dog owners and
breeders to watch the Oprah Show on Friday and form your own
opinions. Then, if she does the kind of hatchet job we expect,
please bombard her with emails expressing your displeasure.
Then, we need to get organized for a campaign to reach her
advertisers. In order to get ready, ASDA is asking readers of this
report to email us a list of every advertiser that supports the
Oprah Show. ASDA is willing to organize this campaign. Also, please
let us know if you are able to help with it. Our email address is
asda@csonline. net.

The American Sporting Dog Alliance works at the grassroots to defend
the rights of dog owners and professionals against the very real
threats of animal rights activism. Please visit us on the web at
http://www.american sportingdogallia nce.org. We maintain strict
independence and are supported only by the voluntary donations of
our members.

While the Oprah segment may be about "puppy mills," the laws that
her friends in PETA and HSUS are proposing really are targeting dog
owners and hobby breeders, with the goal of reducing and ultimately
eliminating animal ownership. These same radical groups also want to
eliminate hunting, ban the ownership of firearms, forcibly convert
us to vegan vegetarianism and destroy American farming traditions.

"Puppy mills" are not the issue. Existing federal, state and animal
cruelty laws already intensively regulate commercial kennels. You
are the issue. These groups want to destroy the things that you love
and believe in.

Does Oprah have a conscience? She is leaving $30 million to support
five dogs that she loves and apparently believes she is doing
something right by supporting animal rights groups.

 

But she is being suckered. She is supporting groups that believe
that the only unexploited dog is a dead dog. The truth is that PETA
slaughters 97-percent of the dogs that enter the
organization' s "shelter" in Virginia. They would rather kill those
dogs than help them find a loving home.

Please forward this posting to as many people as you can, and also
cross-post it on message boards. We need to reach as many people as
possible quickly.
 

OK, so I've done my civic duty to post the above comments.  I became aware of the post last night but didn't have a chance to bring it here at that point.  Although the above thoughts are not my own, I am kinda concerned about the idea of PETA and Oprah connecting.  What a force they could be! 

I'm setting the DVR to record Oprah tomorrow.  Maybe it won't be as bad as predicted?

I wish i would of known about this.I wonder if Oprah would be interested in hearing my story and giving the fact that i do have proof.Would she be interested in investigating someone in BC Canada?I know you guys could not answer that but maybe it might be worth giving her producers a call.

I wonder if Oprah would adopt me!    I'd let her rub my belly all day long...

Oprah needs a good Peta.

couldn't resist

Sue-Ann

               What I would do is e-mail Oprah the facts on PETA.  I would give her the facts as to what your group represents. Otherwise you will get her all riled up and she will go on a crusade against you.  She owns the market in woman and her word is as good as gold to them. Believe me this is one person you don't want against you.

As you state she is a billionaire.Unlike others she actually owns the company that produces and syndicates her show. She has total control.

To boycott her advertisers is a waste of time and effort. A factual based rational approach is in my opinion the way to go with a person like that.