Chat Resources for Small Animal Breeding Mills

[sallyvh]

Hi everyone, so I work at my local SPCA where we run an educational day camp for children during the summer. I was asked to create a presentation about "adopt don't shop" for this weeks kids who are ages 9-12.

Now I'm very supportive of the adopt don't shop philosophy; I have 9 pets, all of whom were adopted or were strays. I already have all the stuff about puppy mills covered and cat overpopulation, but I'm looking for more good resources about commercial breeding of small animals. I know about petsmartcruelty.com but was wondering if there were any other websites with good information and images?

I of course cannot make anything too graphic as this is supposed to be a fun camp for kids but I don't think there is anything wrong telling children the truth about these operations while showing some not to graphic pictures.

I'm working on this powerpoint today so if anyone has any good info that they would like to share I can see about incorporating it if I don't already have it!

 

[Party Guineas]

You can get a few images if you just Google for "Rainbow World Exotics" - it's the supplier for Petsmart that PETA investigated. There are quite a few videos online from PETA and other sources about such issues where they go undercover on YouTube that have information - you might not want to show them to the kids, as some of it is rather graphic, but you can always pull clips and information from them and put it into your own words, so the kids understand what happens in these places without having to see it in all it's gory detail.

 

[Princess_Piggie]

I don't have anything to contribute resources wise, but I've always found that the best way to get through to kids is giving them the facts in a fun, fictional way. Think Sesame Street, only for animal cruelty, not spelling/maths.

I had a favourite book when I was younger that was about a dog being abandoned on the side of the road by it's family after the excitement of getting a dog for christmas wore off, and then the dog went from place to place looking for a forever home. You could do something along those lines, say a guinea pig that makes a break from the pet store to save all it's friends from the breeding mill, or something to that effect.

 

[LifeAsItMayBe]

Like Princess_Piggie, I had a favorite abandoned animal book when I was a kid: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14957427-jasmine
It's about a cat, not a small animal, but supposedly it's a true story.