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A
pack of wolves will employ the exact same technique when
inspecting a herd of elk or antelope. A wolf pack can
quickly and routinely select a sick, weak or very young
animal that becomes their next meal. At an auction, buyers
for a large metropolitan zoo, pet food company or glue
factory would size up a herd of commercial livestock and
seek the exact same features in the animals. Puppies from
puppy mills would share similar physical features as
inferior livestock, but the naivety and emotional reaction
of buyers makes the sale.
Operators of hog mills or
cattle mills elicit low prices at livestock auctions for
inferior products, while operators of puppy mills often
elicit higher prices, courtesy of buyers' naivety. Auctions
involving experienced and discerning buyers provide a stark
choice to livestock breeders: high prices for high-quality
product or low prices for inferior product. The free-market
method of livestock trading encourages breeders to raise
quality product for the discerning eyes of buyers. It
requires breeders to maintain high standards in their
treatment of animals.
Now we have the spectacle
of government officials showing up unannounced on the premises of commercial
livestock farms. Veterinarians never visit puppy mills, but they do visit the
premises of many commercial livestock farms to help maintain the health of the
livestock. Many livestock farmers are skilled in various aspects of veterinary
medicine and provide care for their animals that is far superior to anything
that occurs at puppy mills that supply animals to some pet stores.
But such practices would
be of little or no relevance to government officials who are now empowered to
inspect commercial livestock operations. Many of them may seek to score points
with their superiors, while lacking basic veterinary skills. To this end, they
may cite commercial farmers who have a long record of raising quality animals
for lacking the certification to provide veterinary medical assistance to their
animals. That the quality of that veterinary care far exceeds the medical care
provided to animals at a puppy mill will be of little or no relevance.
The legislation that
gives animal welfare officials authority to undertake unannounced inspections of
commercial livestock operations also has the potential to raise food prices at
supermarkets. Or it may open up opportunities for out-of-province producers to
sell cheaper products to supermarkets that may in turn sell at competitive
prices to consumers. It may achieve little, on the other hand, in shutting down
puppy mills that raise inferior animals by very abusive means, to be sold at
high prices to naïve and unsuspecting buyers who visit flea markets, who buy
online or who buy via channels in the underground economy.
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The animal may be blind in one eye, deaf in one ear and walk with a limp. It may
evoke a sense of sympathy in some buyers who want to provide the animal with a
good home and provide much affection. Those decisions keep puppy mills in
business. A department store that sells a defective product may face an irate
customer demanding a refund or a fully-functioning exchange product. Pet stores
that sell products from puppy mills depend on customers' reluctance to demand
refunds or exchanges, or launch lawsuits for having sold defective products.
