This is a poem I found on a rescue site back east. It brought tears to my eyes. They have a write up on puppy mills in Ontario. Very hard hitting to the unaware pet store puppy/kitten shopper. www.roseanimaladoption.ca click on "puppy mills" on the menu to the left of the website screen.

BEFORE I DIE

Copyright Jim Willis 2002
http://www.crean.com/jimwillis

'Tis lonely here in prison,
I dream of sun, of fields,
I saw them from a window once,
but I don't know how they feel.

I've never known a caress,
a friend, a bone, a toy,
I'd happily companion,
a human girl or boy.

But some men have decided,
with selfishness and greed,
that my fate shall be a cage,
and for my keep, I'll breed.

What should fuel this folly?
My kind may bark in vain.
We care not for your commerce,
and few know of our pain.

We're hidden well from justice,
for our freedom some may cry.
God grant me, please, just one request -
Let me play once before I die.