A Rescue's Code of Ethics

When I first jumped into the animal welfare arena, I was quickly surrounded all types of animal rescue organizations. At the 2008 Pet Expo, they were turning each other in for unethical practices. Some were flipping dogs while others were selling puppies directly from the puppy mills offering an assortment of 8-week old popular breed dogs.

Rather than confusing the public with which red flags to look for, we developed a Code of Ethics for rescues to commit to. These ethics are part of a larger Michigan Rescue Certification Program designed to promote the good rescues. This will help everyone find the hardworking rescues that are truly operating to help the animals.

The Code of Ethics can be found at the end of the Best Practices Handbook for Michigan rescues. See Appendix A.

These four items listed in the Code of Ethics will help us fight the war on puppy mills. Please support Puppy Mill Awareness by working with rescue groups who avoid working with breeders and pet stores

1.      We will not support the breeding industry by any action that would serve to continue their operations, such as participating in events with or at pet stores that sell dogs or cats, buying or taking animals from an auction or relieving a breeder of excess stock.

2.      We will not participate in any “pet trafficking” by working with an animal broker or anyone where the source of the animals is unknown.

3.      As an all breed rescue, we will not import animals from out of state and contribute to the homeless animal problem here in Michigan.

4.      We will not engage in the practice of “flipping” which involves obtaining animals for free or at a low cost and then quickly selling those same animals for profit.