Are you looking to adopt a puppy? If so, why not wait until March 23, National Puppy Day, a special day to celebrate the magic and unconditional love that puppies bring to pet owners’ lives.
More importantly, it’s a day to help save orphaned puppies across the globe and educate the public about the horrors of puppy mills.
National Puppy Day is also an unofficial holiday whose goal is to put an end to the cruel practice of puppy mills and farms. Mills are places where dogs are kept and bred for the purpose of later selling them. Many of these mills operate under extremely inhumane conditions, according to the International Society for Animal Rights.
The dogs are often treated as breeding machines and then when the dogs are unable to produce any more puppies, then they are either euthanized or dumped on the streets. Here are some other facts about mills:
- In the United States, there are an estimated 10,000 puppy mills
- Mills breed more than 2 million puppies a year
- Over 1.3 million dogs are euthanized in shelters each year
- Missouri has the largest concentration of puppy mills in the Midwest
- Other U.S States with high numbers of mills include Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana.
In the Coachella Valley, check out the following places to adopt your pet:
- Friends of the Palm Springs Animal Shelter,4575 E Mesquite Ave, Palm Springs
- Coachella Valley City/County Animal Shelter, 72-050 Pet Land Place, Thousand Palms
- Pet Rescue Center, 83496 51st Ave, Coachella
- Loving All Animals, 44635 San Rafael Ave., Palm Desert
- Animal Samaritans SPCA,72307 Ramon Road, Thousand Palms
National Puppy Day was founded in 2006 by Celebrity Pet & Home Lifestyle Expert and Author, Colleen Paige, who is also the founder of National Dog Day and National Cat Day (among many others).
National Puppy Day is actually considered an international holiday now, as it’s trended worldwide on Twitter in 2012, 2013 & 2014 and 2015. Colleen Paige has devoted her life to creating special days of recognition that improve the lives of animals and their people. For more information about the founder, please click here.
Image Sources
- Puppies, National Puppy Day: Pixaby