Thursday, January 15, 2009

North Texas doctor’s heart has gone to the dogs

By Stan Ascher

Pamela Bertsch - Texans Exposing Petland

Protesters line up outside Plano vet's office January 10, 2008.

PLANO — On a cold afternoon in January, Dr. John Pippin stood with more than 100 people outside a veterinarian’s office in Plano being sprayed with water while protesting the alleged sale of puppy milled dogs by the Petland Corporation.

Said veterinarian, who certifies animals for Petland stores in the area so they can be sold, decided to turn the lawn sprinklers on the crowd of protesters standing in the cold wind.

"There’s something seriously wrong with you if you don’t hate puppy mills," Pippin says.

A puppy mill is a large-scale breeding operation that produces large numbers of puppies for profit. Many are considered filthy and inhumane. A November report by the Humane Society of the United States found that nearly all of the dogs sold by Petland were shipped from puppy mills in the Midwest.

Pippin helps lead a group called Texans Exposing Petland, devoted to the cessation of Petland’s alleged use of puppies bred in puppy mills.

Dr. John Pippin is interviewed during a Petland protest.

He wasn’t always an animal rights activist, though.

In the 1980’s, Pippin worked at a cardiovascular research facility that employed the creation of heart disease in dogs in order to find remedies for the disease in humans.

"I learned by doing that, and by looking at others around that were doing that and by reading the medical literature of yet other people that were doing that, that it wasn’t scientifically valid," he says.

In September 2008, he and five others formed Texans Exposing Petland. The group demonstrates at the Plano Petland store located at the intersection of Coit and Maple Shade Roads every Saturday from noon to 2 p.m. The group's makeup runs the gamut -- "from school kids to retirees," he says.

They hope to end the sale of puppy mill puppies by Petland by convincing the store to stop selling puppies by turning off their customer base. "We don’t want the store to close, we just want them to stop selling puppies," he said.

They also want to show Petland Corporation that the same could happen to its other four stores in the area unless they implement a plan to adopt out rescued animals instead.

"We’re coming to see them next," he said.

A press release issued by Pippin's current employer, the organization Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, describes Pippin as a "board-certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular diseases, and nuclear cardiology. He has been on several medical school faculties, including Harvard Medical School and the Medical College of Virginia, where he was chosen Cardiology Professor of the Year three times. He has held many clinical, research, and administrative leadership positions, and was the director of cardiovascular medicine and medical imaging at Cooper Clinic in Dallas."

In 2004 he left his position at the Clinic so he could pursue animal activism full time.

"The clinic wanted to put restrictions on things I could do on my own time to work against the use of animals, such as participating in demonstrations," he said.

He is currently the Senior Medical and Research Advisor for PCRM, where he manages campaigns that deal with the use of animals in medical research, medical education, and drug and product testing.

He was drawn to the organization because it had the capability to find alternatives to using animals for such things as biology class dissections and cosmetic and chemical testing.

Pippin owns eight dogs of his own.

"I walk the walk," he said.

To find out more about Texans Exposing Petland, go here.

Stan Ascher is an intern from the University of North Texas.

Related stories

• Pegasus News week in view: Service edition (Jan. 15, 2009)

See more stories in:

• Animals
• Protests / Stickin' It To The Man

Comments

CitizenKane Anonymous

Puppy mills need to be shutdown...this doctor is doing a good thing by calling attention to the problem and taking action against those who profit from the puppy mill industry.

9 months, 4 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

pjdallas Anonymous

Check out this video. Please notice the breeding mother's pictures towards the middle.

On Saturday, January 10, 2009 22 cities across the U.S. participated in the HSUS 'National Day' demo against Petland selling puppies from puppy mills. We were fortunate enough to have ABC and CW33 News stations out to cover our event here in Plano, Texas. We had 122 participants. We plan to keep going back until Petland changes their ways. We want them to do what PetCo and Pet Smart are doing by adopting out rescue dogs instead.

HSUS conducted an 8 month undercover investigation of Petland and proved their link to puppy mills. http://tinyurl.com/64mkh6

Not only do puppy mills contribute to the HUGE imbalance of dogs in the U.S., but the cruel and inhumane suffering in which the breeding mothers have to endure living their lives in those hell holes is just plain wrong. (2 to 3 million dogs are churned out in puppy mills per year while 3 to 4 million are killed in shelters in the same year. - Quote from Wayne Pacelle, President and CEO of The Humane Society of the U.S.)

Puppy mills are neither needed nor wanted.

Please choose to adopt from your local shelter, rescue group, or from a responsible breeder where you are sure to meet the breeding mother. That is the key! You MUST meet the breeding mother if you are buying a puppy! No responsible breeder sells their puppies to pet shops or off of the internet.

Remember dogs who have to be killed at shelters die not only of being euthanized by injection, but many shelters must use the gas chamber which is horribly cruel. We all have a human responsibility to not only do the right thing, but if possible participate to help end this atrocity.

Here is also a video of a puppy mill rescue by The Humane Society of the U.S.

9 months, 3 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )