What is the real message behind National Puppy Day?
National Puppy Day is March 23, giving all dog-enthusiasts a valid excuse to fawn over cute online puppy photos.聽
But National Puppy Day is about more than just watching . Since it was established in 2006, National Puppy Day is designed to persuade dog owners to 鈥渁dopt instead of shop.鈥澛�
鈥淭he tragedy of puppy mills is that they don鈥檛 care about the animals more than a commodity to be sold,鈥� says the National Puppy Day website. 鈥淣ational Puppy Day encourages you to always consider adoption first and don鈥檛 forget the importance of spaying and neutering to reduce the overpopulation of unwanted pets and unnecessary suffering.鈥澛�
Many prospective owners go to breeders or pet stores to find their dog because they are looking for a certain breed or age. And while not all breeding businesses operate as 鈥減uppy mills鈥� with deplorable conditions and the sole aim of breeding as many puppies for profit as possible, National Puppy Day aims to spread awareness about how many dogs are euthanized or left to live in shelters each year in the United States.聽
According to the ASPCA, enter US animal shelters each year. And of these dogs, 1.4 million dogs are adopted out the animal shelters, 1.2 million are euthanized and the remaining dogs are eventually returned to their owners.聽聽
鈥淢aybe not a lot of people are aware that shelters and ,鈥� Guinnevere Shuster, photographer and social media coordinator at the Humane Society of Utah, tells CNN. 鈥淓ven if you鈥檙e looking for a younger dog, the chances are you can find one that needs a home at a shelter or rescue.鈥�
Especially considering that dogs in the US continue to be in high demand. The Humane Society of the United States suggests in a 2015-2016 survey that 44 percent of all US households 鈥� 54.4 million 鈥� own at least one dog.聽
To accurately celebrate the 10th anniversary of National Puppy Day, its founder Colleen Paige urges dog lovers across the US to think before buying a puppy. Instead of encouraging the horrible business of puppy mills, Ms. Paige encourages potential dog owners to visit local shelters, rescues or pure breed rescue organizations. Because even if potential owners want a specific breed, it doesn't have to reinforce the puppy mill industry.
"People need to do their homework if they want to buy a pure breed puppy from a breeder," writes Paige. "Better yet, there are many pure breed puppies and young adult dogs that are orphaned for one reason or another and there are plenty of pure breed rescues that you can visit to ."
But the prevalence of puppy mills is not consistent throughout the US. And while regional stereotypes are not accurate either, the South tends to have far more strays than the North.
In a story for 海角大神, Peter Zheutlin took a closer look at this is discrepancy, and found that it exists for several reasons.聽
鈥淔irst and foremost, they tell me, there is no strong culture of spaying and neutering dogs in many parts of the region,鈥� Zheutlin explains. 鈥淎nother reason is that in many parts of the South dogs aren鈥檛 seen as companion animals, as they are in the North, but more as property.
鈥淎nd there鈥檚 a lot of backyard breeding, people hoping to make a few dollars peddling puppies,鈥� adds Zheutlin. 鈥淚f they can鈥檛 sell the puppies, they abandon them. Finding litters of live puppies left by the roadside is not uncommon. It鈥檚 a deeply rooted and complex cultural and social problem.鈥澛�
