Demand an End On Puppy Mills: Have Animal Shelters Supply Pets at Shops

My petition for the United States is my attempt. It is my attempt to stop the suffering, the misery, and the nights of my crying knowing that animals are in pain. With all the tears I have cried, it could of filled up an Olympic sized pool, and you know that isn't any good. I want all pet stores, Mom & Pop, and chain such as (PetCo, PetKare, etc) to adopt out animals from rescues, and take animal mills out of business. If my beginning paragraph wasn't good enough to convince to sign, be prepared to hold some tears.
The People Who Purchase
The people who purchase animals from the pet shops, that are supplied by animal mills, probably don't know. I completely understand when they say that all animals that need homes. I stand by them with that, but they are giving paychecks to the quantity breeders. You may be looking for a family pet. I love having a family pet. You may have searched that your little dog should live to nearly 12 - 14 years. That is a lie. Your animals from that mill will die easier. These commercial breeders have diseases going around. The majority of these so called breeders don't even have a vet. I feel bad for the people that buy these animals. They may be looking for a best friend or one for their kid that will die earlier than the ones at a shelter. When the animal dies earlier, Little Sarah will cry for days and days. No one can change that fact, until all 10,000 animal mills are gone, except for in a history textbook, that shall show times of darkness and pain for these animals.
Last Chance for Animals Information (I Don't Own this. All credit to rightful owners. I am trying to help a cause and I am not trying to be upon trouble. Thank you). Sorry, but the pictures are not cooperating for me. Incase you are interested go to this link. http://www.lcanimal.org/index.php/campaigns/puppy-mills/puppy-mill-facts Viewer discretion is advised.
Puppy Mill Facts
Rescued puppy mill dog suffering from a severe case of untreated mange and a ruptured eye.
What is a puppy mill?
A puppy mill is a mass breeding facility that produces puppies for sale. There are thousands of puppy mills across the country, producing over 2 million puppies per year. These facilities, most of which are inspected and licensed by the U.S.D.A., are notorious for their filthy, overcrowded conditions, and the unhealthy animals they produce. Many of the dogs suffer from malnutrition and exposure, usually remaining outside year round, enduring both freezing temperatures in the winter and intense heat in the summer. Cat breeding occurs on a smaller scale and under similar conditions.

Puppy mill conditions
Puppy mill kennels generally consist of small, outdoor wood and wire cages or crates. The animals are cramped into these filthy cages. Their eyes are filled with pus and their fur with excrement. Many of the puppies suffer from malnutrition and exposure. Like pet store owners, breeders save money, and thus maximize profits, by spending little on food, shelter, and veterinary care. Puppies consequently receive below standard food, minimal if any veterinary care, and inadequate shelter which, combined with the inbreeding prevalent in puppy mills, produce animals with genetic diseases and abnormalities. Puppies’ legs often fall through the bottom of their wire cages, causing additional injuries.
The hind leg of this dog was eaten off by another dog. She lay for two days without medical attention, even though the puppy miller was aware of her condition. She died shortly after rescue.
This mill dog’s body is covered with sores. Her cage barely allows room to turn around.
“Brood Bitches”
Female dogs kept in puppy mills their entire lives are called “brood bitches.” They are typically undernourished and receive little veterinary care, in spite of being kept perpetually pregnant. Their puppies are frequently taken from them before being weaned. As a result, some puppies do not know how to eat and thus die of starvation. At approximately six or seven years of age, when they can no longer breed more puppies, “brood bitches” are killed.
“Brood bitches”, like this dog, could easily have 50 puppies before she is killed.

Transportation and Sale
At four to eight weeks of age, puppies are taken from their mothers and sold to brokers (or retail businesses). The brokers then pack them in crates and transport them for sale at various pet shops. Frequently, the puppies are not provided with adequate food, water, ventilation, or shelter during transport; consequently, many die en route. Those that are not sold will be killed, brought back to the mill to breed, or sold to laboratories for research.
The Law
Puppy mills are regulated by the US Department of Agriculture, under the Animal Welfare Act, which, passed by Congress in 1966, established minimum standards of care for animals bred for commercial sale. It is estimated that there are more than 5000 licensed puppy mills currently breeding and selling animals commercially in the US. These licensed mills provide local pets stores with an estimated 500,000 puppies and kittens each year. However, there are thousands more breeding facilities with equally horrific conditions which remain unlicensed and unregulated because they sell dogs online or directly to the public.
Inspectors for the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS), under the USDA, are charged with inspecting and regulating thousands of puppy mills, as well as research facilities, zoos and circuses each year. Understaffed and with authority limited to an inadequate Animal Welfare Act, kennels are inconsistently inspected and anti-cruelty laws are rarely enforced in the rural areas where most puppy mills are located. Even when licensed breeders are found to be in violation of AWA, puppy mill operators are allowed to remain open while they remedy them. Repeat offenders often refuse to allow Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service workers to enter and inspect their facilities; these kennels Goal: Have all United States Pet Stores be supplied from registered animal shelters.

It is no secret that animal mills are down right against every animal right that we have going for the country of United States of America. It is the result of abuse, neglect, and infinite amounts of pure suffering in these animals. I am eleven years old and I can even recognize what should be dsometimes remain licensed in spite of this noncompliance.
The Animal Welfare Act (AWA) falls far short of what most individuals would consider minimum standards of care, and this is acknowledged in the USDA’s own materials.
“Individuals who operate facilities in these categories must provide
their animals with adequate care and treatment in the areas of housing,
handling, sanitation, nutrition, water, veterinary care, and protection
from extreme weather and temperatures. Although Federal requirements
establish acceptable standards, they are not ideal.
Regulated businesses are encouraged to exceed the specified minimum standards.”
*Source, APHIS AWA Factsheet
The American Kennel Club
Although the AKC claims to be devoted to advancing the health of purebred dogs, it typically spends only about 2% of its total yearly income on research towards that end. Moreover, AKC papers do not guarantee the value or health of a puppy. The organization does not try to work with breeders to improve mill conditions, perhaps because breeders pay the AKC millions.
No More Room
It is estimated that 2 million dogs are bred in these puppy mills a year and that 1.2 million dogs are euthanized in shelters each year.
What is Wrong with Puppy Mills? The Puppy Mill Project. http://www.thepuppymillproject.org/about-puppy-mills/ (I don't own any content)
Puppy mills are dog breeding operations that put profit over the health and well-being of the dogs.
Puppy mills may be large or small. They may be licensed by the United States Department of Agriculture or unlicensed. In order to sell to a pet store, the breeder must be licensed, though many still sell to pet stores without a proper license.
Puppy mills can house hundreds or thousands of dogs. Smaller does not necessarily mean better. The conditions in small facilities can be just as cruel as larger ones.
Puppy mills are everywhere, though there is a large concentration in the Midwest. Missouri has the largest number of puppy mills in the United States. Amish and Mennonite communities (particularly in Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania) also have large concentrations of puppy mills.
Puppy mills breed all types of dogs – everything from Labrador Retrievers, Boxers, and English Bulldogs to teacup Yorkies – you can find nearly every breed.
Breeding parents spend their lives in 24-hour confinement to cages. It is common to see wire cages stacked on top of each other. They generally do not have protection from heat, cold, or inclement weather.
Dogs in puppy mills live in dirty, unsanitary conditions.
Dogs living in puppy mills receive little to no veterinary care (and puppy mill owners often provide veterinary care without anesthesia or veterinary training).
Mothers are bred every heat cycle and are usually killed when they can no longer produce.
Many puppy mills do not practice humane euthanasia. Dogs are killed in cruel ways, including shooting or drowning.
Puppies are taken from their mothers too young and can develop serious health or behavioral issues due to the conditions in which they are bred and shipped. This leads to expensive veterinary bills, heartbreak, and stress for their owners.
Words from the ASPCA (I don't own any content and I have no connections to the ASPCA. This is to further back my claim to help the United States. I love animals and I don't want to start problems. This is word for word what they said, like the other sites I gathered information from)

A Closer Look at Puppy Mills
Puppy mills are large-scale commercial dog breeding operations where profit is placed above the well-being of animals. Bred without consideration of genetic quality, this produces generations of dogs with unchecked hereditary defects.

Some puppy mill puppies are sold to pet shops and marketed as young as eight weeks of age. The lineage records of puppy mill dogs are often falsified, and puppy mill dogs are often plagued with health problems.
A Look at Life Inside a Puppy Mill
The number of dogs in a puppy mill can vary significantly, ranging from 10 to 1,000 breeding dogs. Because not all puppy mills are licensed and inspected, it's impossible to know the true average.
To maximize profits, female dogs are bred at every opportunity with little to no recovery time between litters. When they are physically depleted to the point that they no longer can reproduce, breeding females are often killed. The parents 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.
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. 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.

Common Health Problems that Impact Puppy Mill Dogs
Illness and disease are common in dogs from puppy mills. Because puppy mill operators often fail to apply proper husbandry practices that would remove sick dogs from their breeding pools, puppies from puppy mills are prone to congenital and hereditary conditions. These can include:
Epilepsy
Heart disease
Kidney disease
Musculoskeletal disorders (hip dysplasia, luxating patellas, etc.)
Endocrine disorders (diabetes, hyperthyroidism)
Blood disorders (anemia, Von Willebrand disease)
Deafness
Eye problems (cataracts, glaucoma, progressive retinal atrophy, etc.)
Respiratory disorders
On top of that, puppies often arrive in pet stores and their new homes with diseases or infirmities, including:
Giardia
Parvovirus
Distemper
Upper respiratory infections
Kennel cough
Pneumonia
Mange
Fleas
Ticks
Intestinal parasites
Heartworm
Chronic diarrhea
Behavior Problems in Puppy Mill Dogs
Fearful behavior and lack of socialization with humans and other animals are typical of puppy mill dogs. Puppies born in puppy mills are typically removed from their littermates and mothers at just six weeks of age. The first months of a puppy's life are a critical socialization period for puppies. Spending that time with their mother and littermates helps prevent puppies from developing problems like extreme shyness, aggression, fear and anxiety.
Tips to Avoid Purchasing a Puppy Mill Dog
Many pet store owners will tell you they get all their puppies from "licensed USDA breeders" or "local breeders." In fact, in order to sell puppies to pet stores, a breeder must be licensed by the USDA. Pet stores often use this licensing to provide a false sense of security to customers, when what it really means is that they do, in fact, get their puppies from puppy mills. Being registered or “having papers” means nothing more than the puppy's parents both had papers. Many registered dogs, as well as pedigreed dogs, are sold in puppy mills. The only way you can be sure that a puppy came from a reputable source is to see where he or she came from yourself. Puppies sold online often come from puppy mills. Responsible breeders would never sell to someone they haven't met because they want to screen potential buyers to ensure the puppies are going to good homes.
Acquiring Purebred Dogs Elsewhere
Please make adoption your first option. Purebred dogs end up in shelters just like mixed breeds. Breed rescue groups exist for just about every breed possible. If you have your heart set on a purebred, please be sure to visit your local shelter or find a breed rescue group before searching for a breeder. If you can't find what you want through a shelter or breed rescue group, please learn how to recognize a responsible breeder. When buying a dog from a breeder, always be sure to meet the puppy's parents or at least the mother, and see where the dogs live. Never meet a breeder at an off-site location, and never have a puppy shipped to you sight-unseen.
Puppy Mills Across the United States
The highest concentration of puppy mills is in the Midwest, specifically in Missouri, but there are also high concentrations in other areas, including Pennsylvania, Ohio and upstate New York. Commercial dog breeding is very prevalent among Amish and Mennonite farmers. There are typically between 2,000 and 3,000 USDA-licensed breeders (commonly referred to as puppy mills) operating in the United States. This number does not take into consideration the number of breeders not required to be licensed by the USDA or the number of breeders operating illegally without a license. Because so many of these breeders are operating without oversight, it's impossible to accurately track them or to know how many there truly are. The ASPCA estimates that there could be as many as 10,000 puppy mills across the nation.
Puppy Mill Legislation
The federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA), passed in 1966, requires breeders who have more than three breeding female dogs and sell puppies to pet stores or puppy brokers to be licensed and inspected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). In most cases, the standards that breeders are required to meet by law are extremely minimal. Under the AWA, it is legal to keep a dog in a cage only six inches longer than the dog in each direction, with a wire floor, stacked on top of another cage, for the dog's entire life. Conditions that most people would consider inhumane, or even cruel, are often legal.
With the evolution of Internet commerce, puppy mills have sprouted up all over the world to provide poorly bred puppies of every imaginable breed directly to the consumer. As a result, the U.S. market has seen an increase in imported dogs in bad health and/or possibly carrying diseases that could harm people and other animals. Because foreign puppy mills are not subject to U.S. regulations—such as the standards set forth in the AWA—it is likely that many of these dogs are bred and raised in extremely inhumane conditions.
An amendment to the 2008 Farm Bill prohibits the importation of puppies less than six months of age for the purpose of resale. In August 2014, the USDA adopted regulations implementing the law at national ports of entry.
More than half of U.S. states have chosen to legislate higher standards of care for commercially bred animals beyond the bare minimums required by the AWA. Unfortunately, 21 states have no laws on the books regulating commercial dog breeders—and a number of states that do require breeders to be licensed and inspected by the state only require commercial breeders to meet USDA standards of care.
My Statement Again
Although a lot of information gathered from these sites talked about mainly puppy mills, this goes the same for a lot of different species. I hope you that even if your heart is a little spec, to sign this petition and share on social media. Please no hate to this petition. I am eleven years and I tried to make a change in this sometimes putrid world. I did my very best and all support is great. Please try and help me succeed. I know this worked in the city of San Francisco and worked greatly.

Goal: Have all United States Pet Stores be supplied from registered animal shelters.