Small cages, one on top of the other, each cramped to the brim with at least five dogs that barely had any space left to move.
Yurike, who founded the dog adoption centre Dogs Need Love in Bogor, West Java, said puppy mills were becoming a prominent problem lately. These facilities, where high-selling breeds of dogs are kept and forced to breed for commercial purposes, are often characterised by poor welfare conditions. Everything happened so quickly since then, they had to use eight cars and two vans to move all 104 dogs. The dogs have since been transported to a pet accommodation in Bogor, close to Yurike’s own adoption centre.
As long as there are irresponsible pet owners, these businesses will contiue to cater the demand, Yurike said. This, she said, was in addition to the fact that dogs coming from puppy mills often have their emotional growth stunted, and some would also have lingering traumas.