April 4, 2008

CHICAGO – In a dramatic call to action for animal lovers to “unite” for the sake of ending the inhumane conditions spawned in puppy mills, Oprah Winfrey takes on puppy mills in her afternoon show today.

In a released statement, Winfrey said the show is “for anybody anywhere who loves a dog, has ever loved a dog, or just cares about their basic right to humane treatment.”

The hour-long show will feature “Oprah Show Investigative Reporter” Lisa Ling undercover in puppy mills, which Ling has called “horrific” and “haunting.”

Inspiration for the special feature came from Main Line Animal Rescue, which is about 30 miles east of Lancaster County, Pa., the nation’s “puppy mill capitol.”

Acutely aware of the horrors that dogs face in puppy mills, MLAR staff members brainstormed as they returned to their facility with a carload of retired dogs from Lancaster’s breeding kennels.

Their solution: a billboard campaign highlighting the mills’ existence. It has been hugely successful since its inception in 2005, with billboards ‘greeting’ tourists in Pennsylvania Dutch country. The group has also been lobbying lawmakers at the state capital with their awareness-driven signage.

MLAR extended its campaign tactic to Missouri, the state with the most puppy mills, by placing a billboard outside of St. Louis.

But the group wanted to broadly reach beyond the travelers of the Keystone State’s highways.

The problem was figuring out who could give their mission a voice which could reach millions. The answer was Oprah Winfrey.

In February, MLAR took out a billboard four blocks from Harpo Studios at the corner of Kennedy Expressway and Randolph Blvd. It reads: “Oprah - please do a show on puppy mills; The dogs need you! www.mlar.com.”

They hoped it would catch her attention and appeal to her dog-loving nature. According to MLAR’s Web site account, “no sooner did the board go up, did we hear from the producer of her show.”

With a film crew of five, Ling and MLAR staff began searching out the notorious substandard kennels tucked away in the pristine countryside. Their goal was to link the fathers and mothers in the kennels to the pure bred puppies that later showed up in regional pet stores.

They were successful in a few cases, such as connecting cock-a-poo puppies being sold in a Chester County, Pa., pet store to the breeding dogs housed in tiny rabbit hutches in Lancaster County.

While the entire program will focus on puppy mills, it will also feature segments on euthanasia and the importance of spaying or neutering pets.

By addressing all of these issues on national television, MLAR is hopeful that Winfrey will help millions of animals and that millions of people will be sorely enlightened, leading to changed outlooks on pet purchases and ownership.

“I would never, ever adopt another pet now without going to a shelter to do it,” Winfrey said in a statement. “I am a changed woman after seeing this show.”

Winfrey has dedicated this investigative broadcast to her long-time companion because “Sophie gave me 13 years of unconditional love. She was a true love in my life.”

After suffering from kidney failure, Sophie died on Monday, March 24.

Although Sophie was not a product of a puppy mill, Winfrey has previously adopted her pets from breeders. But in the future, she wants to adopt from a shelter.

The Oprah Winfrey Show’s special report on puppy mills will air on ABC network affiliates at 4 p.m. EST, today, April 4. To learn more about Main Line Animal Rescue, visit mainlinerescue.com and to support the end of puppy mills, visit MLAR's stoppuppymills.com.

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Robin Wallace, Pet Pulse; WSB-TV News Channel 2, Atlanta; Main Line Animal Rescue and The Associated Press contributed to this article. To read Robin Wallace’s journal entry on this news event, search for Zootoo user rwallace.