CARIAD 7 Days Event

As part of their commitment to public education about the cruelty of battery puppy farming in the UK and the untold personal heartbreak members of the public are letting themselves in for if they willingly or unwittingly purchase a puppy that has come from a puppy farm, C.A.R.I.A.D. (Care And Respect Includes All Dogs) is launching a unique event.

The CARIAD 7 Days Event to raise awareness of puppy farming runs for 7 days from 15th September 2012 to coincide with the international Puppy Farm Awareness Day. The founder of CARIAD, Linda Goodman, will be living as a puppy farmed dog for 7 days to highlight the horrors of puppy farming.

The event is unusual in that instead of seeing images of dogs suffering, it will show a human living in the environment and isolation experienced by thousands of breeding dogs in the UK right now. They decided to hold the event over 7 days with 1 day representing each year these breeding dogs are kept imprisoned on average.

The pre-event video is here (no graphic images).

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C.A.R.I.A.D. Founder, Linda Goodman explains: "The situation for dogs in the UK is now desperate. Our rescue shelters are at breaking point because people are abandoning their 'much loved' pets in greater numbers than ever before. At the same time tens of thousands of puppies are being bred in squalid battery farms, the majority of which are in Wales and Ireland and trafficked across the UK in vans and trucks into pet shops and via free ads on the internet to a market that simply cannot sustain them.

"These are not puppies that have been bred to live long and happy lives. Due to intensive inbreeding they often carry shocking hereditary conditions and genetic problems that will mean many die within weeks or months after being purchased. We've found that some of these puppies have been taken away from their mothers as early as just 4 weeks old. These puppies are not brought up in socialised conditions that are a basic requirement for an emotionally and psychologically well balanced family pet. As a result many suffer from behavioural issues and will end up abandoned, further adding to the burden of council pounds and rescue shelters. If they do survive to adulthood they are most likely to need costly vet treatment for the rest of their lives.

"If this isn't bad enough, the situation is even worse for the parents of these puppies - the breeding dogs. They are forced to endure a life of imprisonment in highly unsuitable and sometimes barbaric accommodation such as cages, sheds, caravans, barns, garages, cellars or disused lorry containers. Shut inside, often 24 hours a day with no access to daylight, exercise or companionship. They're often left without access to clean water or food, with nonexistent or unsuitable bedding like straw or sawdust, and exist in confined spaces covered in urine and excrement which result in painful eye injuries and ear infections, terrible skin conditions and painfully matted fur. It's an outrage that countries like the UK, considered to be a civilized nation, allow this to continue. There can be no justification for the volume breeding of domestic companion animals, 'farmed' with less regard than agricultural livestock."

The event webcam will be live 24 hours for 7 days starting at 12 noon on 15th September 2012.

[The live webcam is now off air]

Linda says "Organisations have been trying to educate the public for years about puppy farming. But still the public continue to be taken in by scammers on the internet who pose as private families selling home-bred puppies, when in fact they are being taken in by cynical, heartless puppy dealers and the puppies have come from hundreds of miles away in battery farms. Or worse, people are still actually buying puppies in pet shops! Time and again they are told that good breeders never sell their puppies to pet shops and that these puppies come from puppy farms and back yard breeders. The fact that puppy farming and the sale of puppies in pet shops is still even legal in the UK in the 21st century beggars belief."

When Linda is asked why she will be the occupant she explains "I will be the occupant. At 50, I am now the human equivalent age of a breeding bitch coming to the end of her usefulness to a puppy farmer. At this point if I was lucky I may be surrendered to a reputable rescue, rehabilitated and given a home to spend what's left of my life in peace and dignity, finally knowing the kindness of humans. But sadly, often I would be killed. Not euthanized by a vet because that would cost money. I would be shot, drowned or abandoned in the middle of nowhere to starve to death. That's the shocking and brutal reality behind the cute puppies people are buying in pet shops and on the internet."

The primary aim of the 7 Days Event is very simple. "We want people to stop buying puppies from pet shops and internet sellers. If they can just do those two simple things, puppy farmers would cease to have a market. There are thousands of beautiful dogs languishing in rescues who desperately need the chance of a safe and loving home. If people want to have a canine companion, we urge them to consider this more ethical and humane option."

The secondary aim is "to make politicians and those in other positions of authority in the pet industry understand that the Animal Welfare Act as it stands is not being enforced by anyone. The RSPCA don't have the power to enforce it and Councils are not required to enforce it, or are simply unwilling or unable to due to staff shortages. The Animal Welfare Act is at present a worthless document."

For information about the 7 Days Event please email cariad7daysevent@live.co.uk