Our Billboards
It was in February of 2005 that Main Line Animal Rescue's first Anti-Puppy Mill billboard went up on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The San Francisco newspapers called it an "effective exercise in tasteful activism." The Humane Society of the United States, Doris Day Animal League and Best Friends in Utah covered the story on their web sites, displaying the now famous "postcard" image in the pages of their magazines. The response locally was overwhelmingly supportive. Many residents in Lancaster County called and emailed us to thank us for casting such a large spotlight on a problem that they, themselves, have been struggling with for years.
Our not-so-little billboard was so successful in fact, that we decided to place another billboard in Missouri. Lancaster County may have the highest concentration of Puppy Mills for any one county in the United States, but Missouri has more of these horrific puppy factories than any other state. Situated outside St. Louis, the board soon inspired other rescue organizations to sponsor their own billboards decrying the callousness of large scale commercial breeding.
And as the men climbed the ladders to put up out third billboard, again on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the number of people visiting our web site to learn more about Puppy Mills climbed by the tens of thousands. At this writing, over two hundred thousand people have visited our site following the debut of our first billboard looking for more information and learning more about the horrific nature of Puppy Mills. We believe that if consumers are made aware of how badly the parents of so many of those cute little puppies in their neighborhood pet store are treated, the demand for Puppy Mill puppies will decline. And so will the abuse.
Now Christmas is a time for good cheer, and the time for holiday shoppers to scurry off to the Lancaster's outlet stores. Attracting hundreds of thousands of people, the Rockvale Center is the epicenter of Lancaster's retail district. MLAR placed posters in glass cases outside the stores in this outlet mall in an attempt to educate their shoppers to the fact that Lancaster County is known far and wide as "The Puppy Mill Capital of the World." The placards also suggested that anyone interested in purchasing a puppy (always a bad idea to give puppies from pet stores as Christmas gifts) should consider adopting a pet from a shelter instead. Our "Santa" image also appeared on a huge billboard on Interstate 83, and was seen by motorists driving to Harrisburg from Baltimore.
Our fifth and latest billboard, located outside of Harrisburg, is critical of PA's Department of Agriculture and it's unwillingness to enforce the existing laws protecting the dogs trapped in PA's Puppy Mills. Because dogs are considered "agricultural products" in Pennsylvania, it is that department's responsibility to uphold the laws protecting these animals. Even when provided with proof of obvious infractions in some of the worst dog breeding facilities in this state, they have failed to act. MLAR wants taxpayers to know that those responsible for monitoring the activities of Mill operators are not doing their jobs.
The billboards have brought MLAR national attention. We only hope that it has also focused attention on a problem that has plagued Pennsylvania for decades. Our ultimate goal is to pressure legislators into improving conditions for these "prisoners of profit" and to educate the average person on the street (or should we say highway) to the atrocities in these puppy factories.
