07/09/2016

 

Many dog lovers are unaware that when they buy a “thoroughbred” dog, they actually sign a death sentence for another dog, which is waiting exactly for them in a kennel near their residence. Adopting a dog from a kennel and avoiding encouraging the dog breeding industry will directly prevent the death of tens of thousands of dogs every year in Israel.

Every year tens of thousands of healthy dogs are killed in Israel, for the simple reason that no one adopts them. Most of them are executed in the municipal kennels. On the other hand, tens of thousands of dogs are bought in Israel every year from breeders and dog dealers. These dogs are “produced” by the breeders only because they are a required “commodity”.

The account is simple and cruel: for every dog that someone in Israel buys from a dog breeder, another dog is left to die in the municipal kennel.

Many of those who buy dogs genuinely love dogs – and not just thoroughbred dogs. Therefore, most of them are shocked at the extent of the killing of abandoned dogs and refuse to believe that such a killing is taking place in the State of Israel. As in many other cases, sometimes we’re comfortable just not to know, not to hear, not to spoil our fun. After all, we have enough concerns and enough horror stories to hear every day. But the brutal reality is that anyone who chooses to buy a dog takes part in commemorating this killing, knowingly or unknowingly.

One of the common justifications for buying a dog is the claim that these dogs are born anyway, and someone will buy them anyway. But as in many similar cases in life, here too rule principles of supply and demand. The more dog lovers will avoid buying dogs, the more demand will decrease, resulting in a reduction in the dog industry scope. The dog breeding industry exists only because there are those who buy its products – thoroughbred dogs.

 

Buying a dog – means killing a dog in a municipal kennel

Another justification that thoroughbred dog owners routinely launch towards those who confront them with the “disturbing truth” and heavy responsibility for the dog who is put to death in the municipal kennel as a result of their decision to buy a dog, is that a purebred dog is more beautiful, more special, cuter and a variety of similar explanations that prioritize aesthetic considerations at the expense of moral considerations. Beauty is important, but even in this case, it seems that the human ability to make moral judgments of good and evil should make it clear that when at one stake is the aesthetic consideration of cute/beautiful/special, and on the other side there is the consideration that buying a dog means killing a dog in a kennel – it seems difficult to consider ourselves dog lovers and yet to claim that it is a real dilemma. The choice, it seems, is clear – to save a dog, and sooner as possible. In view of the huge number of dogs found in kennels, even there can anyone who really loves dogs find the dog that for him he is the cutest, most beautiful and special, and is intended exactly for him.

There is no doubt that many people who buy thoroughbred dogs are not even aware that this choice also involves the choice to leave a dog in a municipal kennel to die. At the very least, like many disturbing truths, we are at times comfortable pushing this recognition out of the confines of our consciousness, and most Israeli authorities are even willing to assist us with well-oiled mechanisms aimed at concealing from the public eye the scope and extent of the killings that occur in many kennels throughout the country, and to put the issue at the bottom of public priorities. Still, there seems to be no justification that dog lovers themselves will contribute to this difficult phenomenon, when in the seemingly simple decision of whether to adopt a dog from a kennel or to buy a dog – many choose the latter.

So if you genuinely love dogs, don’t take part in the cruel and unnecessary industry of dog breeding and trading, which is responsible for the death of so many dogs in the municipal kennels. Thousands of amazing dogs are waiting for you in our kennels and in other kennels throughout Israel – come to adopt and save them.

 

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