Recently, activists from coast to coast joined together on Puppy Mill Awareness Day with the shared goal of educating their communities about the inherent cruelty of puppy mills and how to make a difference. The day revolved around one simple, yet effective, call to action: Stop buying puppies from stores while so many dogs and other animals are dying in shelters!

Whether it was sharing posts on social media, leafleting, or rallying outside of local pet stores, activists put their compassion into action for the dogs suffering from forced breeding, neglect, and filthy conditions in puppy mills nationwide.

In Orlando, a group of puppy heroes gathered outside of a Petland store that has been the subject of investigative reports. This store, which has a D-rating by the Better Business Bureau, recklessly sold sick and dying puppies to eight different customers, causing continual pain and suffering of the animals while promoting the blatant cruelty of puppy mills.

Letters to the editor were also published in papers throughout Florida, which reached thousands and shed light on the deplorable conditions of puppy mills. The letters encouraged readers to “adopt — don’t shop” and asked legislators to support retail sales bans.

You can add your town to the more than 300 communities throughout the country that have passed retail pet sales bans to prohibit puppy stores and stop puppy mills. Email matt@idausa.org today to get started!

We urgently need your help to raise $10,000 to sustain our lifesaving work, including the End Puppy Mills campaign, before Giving Tuesday on December 3rd, 2019. Please, make a donation today or help end the puppy mill industry forever by starting your own Facebook fundraiser for In Defense of Animals.