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Was wondering if anyone out there knows just how effective the mass emails generated by various animal rights groups are. There are a great number of them generated by PETA and even though I support PETA's intentions I believe their tactics sometime run against what they are trying to accomplish. They currently have a huge push against China's fur production - something that should certainly be stopped since they have been caught on tape skinning animals alive (all on PETA's web-site by the way) as well as many other sorts of torturous abuse of animals.

I really want to help and am not sure of the best way to get the message across - any ideas??

Since you did not answer the original question I considered deleting this post but thought I would address some of the issues brought up instead.

Cruelty of any sort, even alleged, needs to be stopped if we are to advance as a society. You mention that if you keep 100 dogs you cannot be sure that one might be deemed sick enough to warrant a cruelty charge - if you cannot manage every animal in your care without one being sick without you noticing then you have too many animals. Breeders that keep that many dogs are puppy mills as puppies is what they manufacture - for profit and for little regard of the quality of life of their animals which I can guess are all kept in cages and bred and bred and bred. These sorts of misguided uses of animals is what the HSUS and current bills (in many states) are trying to limit.

It is very easy to cry foul when the government steps in to control what individuals are involved in but when so many animal's are turned over to shelters because they are no longer wanted it is because people do not make good decisions - this is when govt should step in - laws are designed to protect people against themselves and animals are now covered by such protection from people's foolishness and cruelty.

If the HSUS goes overboard at times it is only because of the frustration over the lack of progress in some people's views over the purpose of the animals with which we share our world.

Instead of bashing the organization I might suggest that you instead take a good hard look at how you and your fellow breeders keep your animals and try to do something from within that would better serve the needs of those animals that are in your care and have most likely made you a good deal of money.

When people no longer gain profit from the sales of animals - at the cost of the animals' welfare - then it will no longer be an issue but until then I am thankful for the work the HSUS and all other such organizations are trying to accomplish.

Mr. Hutchens has a big web-site if any one is interested in checking it out - just google his name. I think once you do you will see that all of his interests are human based and his complaints are all due to how laws impact the human side of pet ownership as well as many other aspects of human/animal involvement - he supports, through several links, testing on animals and hunting, to name just a few. Since Bella is a great supporter of humane issues I would love to hear from more of you about the above statements.