Adopt, Don’t Shop: The Struggle To Close Puppy Mills
By Mickey Z.
27 October, 2013
World News Trust
An interview with Michael Feldman
“Injustice strikes me to the core as something intolerable and has always pushed me to take issues head on, relentlessly.” - Michael Feldman
New York City is teeming with pet stores -- with adorable puppies visible through the window, of course. Passersby ooh and aah with little or no concept of how those cute canines ended up in a glass-enclosed pen. However, thanks to the tireless efforts of activists and a much-publicized lawsuit filed by a local pet store chain, more and more New Yorkers are talking about “puppy mills.”
Puppy mills, as described by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) are “inhumane commercial dog-breeding facilities that may sell puppies in pet stores, online, or directly to the public (in flea markets or via classified ads).”
A few more puppy mill facts from the HSUS:
>> Puppy mills usually house dogs in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, without adequate veterinary care, food, water and socialization. Puppy mill dogs do not get to experience treats, toys, exercise or basic grooming.
>> To minimize waste cleanup, dogs are often kept in cages with wire flooring that injures their paws and legs -- and it is not unusual for cages to be stacked up in columns. Breeding dogs at mills might spend their entire lives outdoors, exposed to the elements, or crammed inside filthy structures where they never get the chance to feel the sun or breathe fresh air.
>> In order to maximize profits, female dogs are bred at every opportunity with little to no recovery time between litters. When, after a few years, they are physically depleted to the point that they no longer can reproduce, breeding females are often killed.
>> The mom and dad of the puppy in the pet store window are unlikely to make it out of the mill alive -- and neither will the many puppies born with overt physical problems that make them unsalable.
>> The ASPCA estimates that there could be as many as 10,000 puppy mills in the United States.
>> The lineage records of puppy mill dogs are often falsified.
This is where activist Michael Feldman comes in. He is the founder of Puppy Mill Free NYC and a target of the aforementioned lawsuit. I recently had a conversation with Feldman about these issues and more. It went a little something like this...
MZ: Tell us a little about your personal road to rebellion.
MF: I've been a long time radical, direct action orientated activist around issues of globalization, social justice, anti-war, labor and student rights. I've done everything from help to organize the huge protests against the World Economic Forum, do security for Ralph Nader at some of his public events, participate in the M27 Coalition "die-ins" against the war on Iraq in 2003, organize student strike actions, host fundraisers for Colombian Coca-Cola workers that were being killed and brutalized by right-wing hired thugs for trying to organize a union and have written articles published in radical newspapers and journals.
MZ: Like you, I also identified as “radical” well before I embraced veganism. How and when did that transition occur?
MF: It took a personal health crisis for me to even open my mind to that fact that I was destroying my own health with the "food" I was consuming. It's said that history moves not in a linear fashion but by leaps, bounds, crisis and revolutions. My own crisis propelled me into a quest of self discovery that led me rapidly to vegetarianism and eventually veganism. I started to embrace the struggle against animal cruelty and exploitation with as much fervor as I dedicated to past issues of oppression and injustice. I jumped at every opportunity to speak out for animals that I could find.
MZ: What type of actions have you been involved in?
MF: I started attending anti-vivisection protests, fur protests, puppy mill protests, vegetarian leafleting and any other animal rights events I could find. Standing in front of a pet store and watching the puppies in the window sitting there on display like any other "product" you would see in a typical store front infuriated me. Here are these beautifully innocent and intelligent creatures, pulled from a horrific factory farm setting, stolen from their abused mothers, trucked across the country, shoved into a window, commodified and staring at me from a window. I immediately knew that this was the issue I was going to put all my passion and past experience into use for and for the past two years, that is exactly what I've done.
MZ: What's that experience been like, standing in front of a pet store? Does it impact the store's business?
MF: My experience standing in front of Citipups has been nothing less than eye-opening and tumultuous. We have a highly focused/targeted campaign to get Citipups to go humane and just have rescue dogs in the window. If they continue to refuse to convert to a more ethical business model, I have no qualms in seeing their business shuttered.
MZ: Have others joined you?
MF: Many activists and groups have been supportive of our campaign over the years and I owe a lot of gratitude to their assistance, guidance, inspiration and resources they have provided. Some of the groups are Friends of Animals United NJ/NY, Empty Cages Collective, The Humane Society of the United States, PETA, NYS Citizens Against Puppy Mills and New Yorkers Against Puppy Mills.
MZ: New York City is a notoriously hectic and often hostile environment. Do passersby engage you in conversation?
MF: In general, we have some really good interactions with passersby. Being in a busy Manhattan neighborhood exposes us to a lot of foot traffic exposure and many people come up to our table to tell us they have a rescue dog, to find out more information about our campaign or pose questions to us about what exactly a puppy mill is. People often walk by and shout that they would never buy a puppy or simply say "thank you for being out here and doing this." On the other hand, there is a significant portion of those who pass by us and seem thoroughly confused about why we are out there "protesting cute puppies." The streets of NYC are ripe with much apathy and we witness a lot of people simply smile at us, nervously laugh or make a sarcastic quip at us while they quickly shuffle into the pet store. I've had conversations with folks for 30 minutes or more in front of the store to only see them walk right in and come out with a puppy. Moments like that can be discouraging, but I always try to have a long-term perspective and realize that situations like that will happen from time to time and not let it hinder my ability to continue doing effective activism.
MZ: How has Citipups responded to your efforts?
MF: The store has been extremely aggressive against me and those who have joined on to our campaign. I have my image scrolled on a large scale flat screen TV hung in Citipups storefront window calling me a "professional protester," "career protester," that I "do nothing for animals" and that I am a "liar." I have been physically assaulted by a store employee, threatened and followed home. The store has published my photos along with my email and phone number on their counter-protest website they have created. Staff members of Citipups have been verbally abusive to myself and fellow activists, even going as far as sexually harassing female members of our protest group. They've thrown garbage bags filled with feces at us. They have called the cops on us an innumerable amount of times, trying any maneuver they can to convince the NYPD to remove us, luckily to no avail. They have hired employees to stand outside the storefront and hand out literature bashing our reputation and lamenting on how pet stores are great for the local economy, how "they hate puppy mills" too and how they only used "reputable" and "licensed breeders." For a period of time, they hired a man to set up six tables filled with books in the area we normally stand in to try to block us from being in front of their storefront. Through much contention and pleading, we finally got the local authorities to force Citipups to remove the tables.
MZ: Your success provoked them to take things to another level, huh?
MF: Yes, our long and unrelenting boycott campaign has had a serious impact on Citipups business. When I first started my campaign against Citipups, I remember seeing five or six dogs sold on a typical weekend day. These days, It's rare to see them sell one dog on a weekend we are out there. I believe through dedicated protest and puppy mill outreach, we've now put Citipups in the juxtaposition of closing or changing. Instead of changing, Citipups response has been to launch a lawsuit against us.
MZ: What can you tell us about the lawsuit?
MF: What I can tell you about the lawsuit at this time is that Citipups is attempting to sue us for an undisclosed amount in New York Civil Supreme Court. They are also trying to get a restraining order of 100 feet from any of their properties. (Update: This motion has been denied by the court.) The lawsuit is based on totally frivolous accusations that we have stood in front of their door intentionally blocking and not allowing customers in their premises, that we paid children to run into their store to scream stuff, harass them and destroy property. They also falsely claim that we call them a "puppy mill." We've never said they are a puppy mill but that they get their dogs from puppy mills. We have a lot of evidence that shows Citipups gets their dogs from large scale commercial breeders, aka puppy mills, based out of Missouri, Oklahoma, Alabama and Nebraska. Many of these kennels have several hundreds dogs on their premises, churning out puppies non-stop and often under deplorable conditions to supply Citipups and the various other puppy stores that liter our city's landscape. We have over 60 pages in Freedom of Information Law requested documents showing every single puppy mill and puppy mill broker they get their dogs from.
MZ: Is this a common tactic used against animal liberation activists?
MF: These legal maneuvers are often very common in trying to silence animal rights protesters. The pet store American Kennels in New York City launched a similar but much more sophisticated lawsuit against Best Friends Animal Society who was staging a pet store protest in front of their store back in 2009. Activists in New Jersey who protest a store called American Breeders Association were also sued and the pet store lost; the activists are still out there demonstrating and educating. We are typically fighting corporate entities that produces millions of dollars (off of animal suffering) and have much more flexibility and resources to utilize the legal framework against us.
I can tell you this, we wholeheartedly welcome the lawsuit as a great opportunity for us to shine a light on Citipups’ dirty laundry and expose the horrific industry they continue to prop up through their sale of puppy mill dogs.
MZ: What can those reading this article do to help?
MF: The best thing people interested in helping us can do is simply join us on the street. Turn your feelings of anger, disgust or even hopelessness into determined action. Stop by, grab a sign, hand out some flyers, raise your voice and speak out for all the breeding puppy mill mothers. Enterprises like Citipups, ones that base their livelihoods off the torture and exploitation of animals, thrive off the fact that all the abuses involved in their business remain hidden from the public eye. Holding up a sign showing the decrepit conditions that encompass the factory farming of dogs directly in front of the business that gets their dogs from those very conditions is quite a profound and a consciousness penetrating activity.
On the other hand, for those not able or willing to attend our protests and outreach events, there are always other ways to get involved. Use social media to help us get the word out about our campaign. Sign our petition. Donate to help us expand our ability to fight these frivolous lawsuits and to spread puppy mill awareness throughout more parts of New York City.
Find out about upcoming demonstrations here
Our petition is here
Donate here
MZ: How can folks not only help specifically with your campaign against Citipups but also to do similar work elsewhere?
There is a huge unmet need for others to start their own pet store protests and puppy mill outreach in their own communities. In NYC, we have over 70 pet stores that sell puppies. That's more puppy stores than the whole state of California has. New York State has around 600 puppy stores in total, ranking No. 2 in terms of support for propping up the puppy mill industry. The chance is that whatever neighborhood you may live in, there will be a pet store selling puppies there. The money funneled through these stores just perpetuates an endless cycle of cruelty. While the ultimate outcome and goal would one day be to get a ban on the retail sale of puppies like those recently passed in L.A. and San Diego, that outcome is not reasonable for some time to come. If anything, the trend in our particular demography is discouraging to look at. More puppy stores are opening up at what seems to be a relatively rapid rate.
The tools, tactics, strategy and resources are out there for other activists or potential activists to utilize. Reach out to me and I'll be more than willing to help you spearhead your own puppy mill awareness campaign and connect you with the resources necessary to stage an effective campaign.
MZ: How can readers get in touch with you?
I can be reached via email: [email protected]
#shifthappens
Note: To continue conversations like this, come see Mickey Z. in person on Nov. 7 in NYC for One Year After Hurricane Sandy: Activism, Solidarity, Animal Liberation.
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Mickey Z. is the author of 11 books, most recently the novel Darker Shade of Green. Until the laws are changed or the power runs out, he can be found on a couple of obscure websites called Facebook and Twitter. Anyone wishing to support his activist efforts can do so by making a donation here.
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