Wagaroo: A matching market for pet dogs from responsible sources

Christine Exley, a graduate student in Economics at Stanford, writes me about a new matching market, Wagaroo, that aims to cut the search costs for finding pet dogs from responsible sources. (NB, the site may not yet work with all browsers.) She writes:

"It is estimated that 23.5 million people plan to acquire a pet every year.  Of this, 1.5 million intend to buy their pet from a breeder, 5 million are committed to adopting their pet, and 17 million are undecided about the source for their new pet. At the same time, 3 million dogs and cats are killed every year in shelters because they cannot find a home. When you account for people acquiring dogs from shelters, rescue groups, the street (i.e., strays), friends, family members and purebred breeders, there are still over 6 million people acquiring dogs and cats from “other” sources. These other sources (as well as some of the listed sources) are likely puppy mills – places that mass-produce dogs for profit in horrid conditions.  

"Why do people get dogs from puppy mills and hence increase the demand for this inhumane practice in the face of so many adoptable dogs being killed in shelters? There are two leading answers.  First, separately identifying puppy mills from responsible breeders is challenging.   Both puppy mills and responsible breeders sell purebreds for upwards of $1,000, and puppy mills are quick to imitate responsible breeders by falsely advertising that their dogs are bred and cared for in good conditions.   Second, the search costs of acquiring dogs from responsible sources are incredibly high since no unified market exists.   While you may need to search dozens of responsible organizations before you find an available Black Labrador puppy, a quick Google search is guaranteed to show an available Black Labrador puppy from a puppy mill.  Wagaroo will change this through an online listing of dogs from all responsible sources – shelters, rescue groups, responsible breeders and owners needing to re-home their dogs. No puppy mills allowed!   While Wagaroo is in early stages, (ideas on how to perfectly separate puppy mills from responsible breeders are welcome), we look forward to building such a comprehensive listing and providing people with a simple, reputable way to find a dog from responsible sources.  If we make it easy, then we know that people will do the right thing.  "

Which came first, the dyed Easter chick or the dyed Easter egg

Here's a repugnant transaction I had never heard of, complete with laws passed and repealed...
Nobody Minds Dyeing the Egg, but the Chicken Is Another Story


"Cute as they are, they are not made of marshmallow.

"If only they were, nobody would have a problem with newborn chicks that are dyed in brilliant colors — neon, Fruity Pebbles, pastel, Crayola box — to serve as festive Easter gifts. The dye is either injected in the incubating egg or sprayed on the hatchling, and while poultry farmers say it is harmless, many people object, saying it turns live birds into holiday playthings that are quickly discarded.

"About half the states and a scattering of municipalities have laws against the practice, but in Florida last month, the Legislature passed a bill to overturn a 45-year-old ban on dyeing animals.
...
"The outcry from animal rights groups has been swift.

“Humane societies are overflowing with these animals after Easter every year,” said Don Anthony of the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida. “This law has protected thousands of animals from neglect and abuse, and it shouldn’t be lifted on the whim of one dog groomer who wants to dye poodles purple.”

"Dyed Easter chicks have been a seasonal staple in parts of the country for generations, though the practice has gone largely underground as society’s tastes have changed.
...
"Easter is on Sunday, and while dyed chicks may show up for sale in various places, they will still be illegal in Florida, since the change would not take effect until July 1. "



HT: Ran Shorrer

Greyhound racing: a repugnant transaction with shifting coalitions

Lots of animal lovers find dog races a repugnant transaction, and it has faced ballot measures and bans.
As you would expect, firms that ran dog races opposed such bans. But that is changing, as dog races become less profitable. However, what keeps them in business is that laws were passed allowing dog racing venues to offer other kinds of gambling, and these are profitable. But, as the NY Times recently reported, to keep the licences for the other, profitable kinds of gambling, "even though the races are losing millions of dollars each year, the owners are required to keep the greyhounds running six days a week."

Read the full story (and weep) here: Greyhound Races Face Extinction at the Hands of Casinos They Fostered

If fur is repugnant (in West Hollywood, CA), why not leather?

That's the question the NY Times asks (Ban Fur? Then Why Not Leather?) following the decision by the city of West Hollywood California to ban the sale of fur garments.

(In addition, "The city has established no-kill animal shelters, outlawed the declawing of cats, and banned the sale of dogs and cats in pet stores...")

In my discussions of repugnance I've often been struck by how hard it is to model just what will strike some people as repugnant and what not. This isn't surprising in view of the fact that what is repugnant at one place or at one time may not be regarded that way at another place or time.

Will bullfighting become repugnant in Spain?

The Guardian reports: Bullfighting saved from the sword as Spain rules it is an artistic discipline: Socialist government says ministry of culture will be responsible for development and protection of controversial sport


"Prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's socialist government announced that the ministry of culture will from now on be responsible for the "development and protection" of bullfighting, which previously fell within the remit of the interior ministry.


"The move follows pressure from bullfighting organisations keen to protect their livelihood following a controversial vote to ban bullfighting in the Catalonia region last year."
...
"Animal rights campaigners say bullfighting only survives because it is subsidised by the Spanish taxpayer. Attendances are falling, its appeal has faded among younger Spaniards and the industry has been hit by the economic crisis. The number of bullfights taking place at local fiestas has diminished as spending cuts have been enforced.


"The Catalan regional government voted to ban bullfighting in the northeastern region last July, by 68 votes to 55, with nine abstentions, on the grounds it is cruel and outdated. The vote was held after campaign group Prou! (Enough! in Catalan) collected 180,000 signatures in favour of a ban.
...
"The ban, which will come into effect next January and will not be affected by Friday's decision, will be the first to be introduced in mainland Spain. The Canary Islands outlawed bullfighting in 1991.


"A poll last year for the newspaper El País found 60% of Spaniards did not enjoy bullfighting, but 57% disagreed with the ban in Catalonia."


HT: Itai Ashlagi

Irish horses going the way of Celtic tigers

Facing Starvation: The Sad Plight of Ireland's Abandoned Horses

"During Ireland's boom years, thousands of people bought horses as a status symbol. But with the economy in crisis, many owners can't afford to keep them. Some 20,000 abandoned horses are roaming Ireland and could face starvation this winter.
...
"A horse slaughterhouse in Kilkenny processed more than 3,000 horses last year, five times more than in 2005. Most of the horse steaks are exported to France.


"But only well-nourished horses whose health has been comprehensively logged are allowed to be slaughtered. One wrong drug and the meat is labelled as unsellable. Contrary to EU rules, most Irish horses don't carry implanted microchips containing their most important data. So their remains can't even be processed into dog food. The absence of microchips also makes it impossible to track where an abandoned horse came from. That makes it tempting for troubled owners just to dump their horses by the roadside because it would cost €300 to have the animal put down and disposed of by a vet."

For some related previous posts, see
Why can't you eat horse meat in the U.S.? and Abandoned horses not headed for foreign tables

Abandoned horses not headed for foreign tables

Speaking of the pony express, Activists Keep Nev. Horses From Going to Slaughter
"With the financial backing of the wife of oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens and others, activists on Saturday purchased almost all 174 horses up for sale at a state-sanctioned auction in Nevada to keep the horses from going to the slaughterhouse.

"Stephanie Hoefener of the Lancaster, Calif.-based Livesavers Wild Horse Rescue group said activists purchased 172 horses for $31,415. The other two horses were acquired by private individuals for their personal use, she said.
...
"The horses were rounded up by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management last month near the Nevada-Utah line and turned over to the Nevada Department of Agriculture for disposal.

"Agriculture department officials acknowledge the stray horses could have wound up at slaughterhouses because they did not have the federal protections afforded to wild-roaming horses.
"The horses are believed to be strays or descendants of horses abandoned by private owners over the years in Pilot Valley north of West Wendover.

''For advocacy groups to step up to the plate and make a financial commitment like this to save the horses, we think this is a wonderful thing,'' Nevada Department of Agriculture spokesman Ed Foster said.

"Jill Starr, president of Lifesavers, said the purchase of the horses at the Fallon auction was made possible by the financial backing of Madeleine Pickens and other donors.

"Starr said high bidders of such horses usually are representatives of slaughterhouses in Mexico and Canada. The meat of the horses is processed for sale in Europe and Asia, where it fetches as much as $25 a pound, she added. "

For previous posts on the American repugnance for the use of horse meat for human consumption, as compared to the high prices it fetches overseas, see here.

Illegal markets: Dogfighting

Dogfighting Subculture, Illegal and Secretive, Is Taking Hold in Texas

Not only is dogfighting itself a felony in Texas, many of the participants seem to be involved in other kinds of crime. Running an illegal competition among criminal participants presents some special problems:

"After the weigh-in, the owners washed each others’ dogs in water, baking soda, warm milk and vinegar to make sure their coats were not poisoned."

Animal organs for human transplants

The Times of London reports on hopes of
Pig organs ‘available to patients in a decade’

If the formidable immunilogical barriers to such xenotransplants can be overcome, it would be a welcome development that could overcome the present dire shortage of transplantable organs. I'd be happy to see kidney exchange replaced by even better alternatives.

Pig kidneys for transplantation would presumably be sold without becoming a repugnant transaction of the kind that selling human kidneys is widely seen to be. However the breeding of transgenic pigs involves some of the same perception of repugnance:

"Professor Winston said that “organs that might be transplantable” could be ready “within two to three years” and on the basis that research went smoothly they would be fully licensed and tested in as little as ten years. He expected the first “proof of principle” pigs to be bred next year.
Two months ago he hit out at the “red tape” blocking the project’s progress in Britain. Under UK and EU rules, his team has been banned from mating and producing offspring from the transgenic pigs. Research in developing transgenic pigs is now likely to move to the US where the regulatory system is more relaxed. "

Animal rights and food production in CA--Proposition 2

Animal rights, and what kinds of food can be sold, continue to be an issue in California (and not just in connection with the 1998 referendum banning the sale of horse meat). Here are two stories about Proposition 2, on this year's ballot:
A California Ballot Measure Offers Rights for Farm Animals , and
The Barnyard Strategist

"Proposition 2, co-sponsored by the Humane Society and Farm Sanctuary, the biggest farm-animal-rights group in the United States, focuses on what are considered the worst animal-confinement systems in factory farms. The ballot initiative, which voters will decide on Nov. 4, requires that by 2015 farm animals be able to stand up, lie down, turn around and fully extend their limbs. In effect that translates into a ban on the two-foot-wide crates that tightly confine pregnant pigs and calves raised for veal — a space so small that they can’t turn around. And it would eliminate so-called battery cages where four or more hens share a space about the size of a file drawer."

Some years ago, New Zealand's Animal Welfare Act of 1999 gave considerable deference to the rights of "Non-Human Hominids," such as chimps and other 'great apes'. I recall Ted Bergstrom remarking at the time that there weren't many chimps in New Zealand, and that New Zealanders could have made more of a statement by giving rights to sheep. It looks like Californians are going to have an option like that at the polls next week.