Bones in Her Pocket: A Tempe Brennan E-Short by Kathy Reichs Page A

As they would with me.
    Still, she found love in her heart for humans. I hoped I’d always be like Edie. Given my line of work, I am sometimes pessimistic about my species. But I do understand. The good in humanity outweighs the bad.
    Suddenly, I knew what to do with my day. I grabbed my phone and dialed a friend at the Charlotte Observer .
    “Is there still time to get an op-ed into this Sunday’s paper?” I asked.
    “What topic?” she asked.
    I told her.
    “Deliver by five today, I’ll see what I can do.”
    With Edie on my heels, I hurried to my desk, booted my laptop, and typed a headline.
    Opt to Adopt—Stop the Horror of Puppy Mills

From the Forensic Files of Dr. Kathy Reichs
    You Can Help Stop Puppy Mills
    As a forensic anthropologist I see the malice humans cause one another. As the owner of five rescue animals, I’m distressed by cruelty to all species. Occasionally, these paths intersect.
    Early in my career, on a warm Monday in May, a heartbreaking case arrived at my lab in Montreal. Police recovered a burlap bag on the shore of a small lake in southern Quebec. It contained bones and a pair of bricks. My job was to determine if the remains were human.
    They weren’t. These were the skeletons of four puppies. The helpless creatures had been bagged, weighted down, and drowned.
    Thoughts of those puppies stayed with me for a very long time. I imagined their terror as the water closed around them. Their desperate attempts to escape. To breathe.
    I am a tolerant person, but animal abuse is a sin I cannot forgive. And nothing is more abusive than a puppy mill.
    A puppy mill is a “factory farm” for dogs. Some are legal, some not. Government regulation is lax, if it exists at all. The “crops” are raised in cages. Females are bred as frequently as possible, and discarded when no longer fertile. It’s a life with no joy, no love, no hope. The dogs are sick, starved, and sad. They have never played on the grass or run through a field.
    Thousands of people buy dogs from puppy mills annually, most believing they are getting their pet from a responsible source. Inhumane breeders seduce buyers into “puppy love,” either in pet stores or through online photos. The Humane Society estimates there are ten thousand puppy mills across the country. Collectively, they sell two to four million puppies each year. My home state of North Carolina is one of the worst offenders, requiring no inspections and with no laws governing breeders’ sales.
    You can help prevent animal abuse. Here are eight things you can do to stop the horror of puppy mills:
    •  Adopt your next pet. The perfect pet is waiting for you at one of the thousands of shelters and rescue groups across the country. If you want a particular breed, you can locate one by contacting a breed-rescue organization.
    •  Don’t buy a puppy online or from a pet store. If you buy a puppy, you’re most likely supporting the puppy mill industry. If you must buy, please do your research to be sure your puppy isn’t from a mill.
    •  Take action against pet stores that sell puppy mill dogs. Ask pet store owners to consider switching to a humane business model. If the store refuses to change, hold a peaceful rally or start a letter-writing campaign.
    •  Advocate for stricter breeding laws. Write or call your city, county, state, and federal officials and ask them to take these issues seriously. Constituent feedback influences legislators. To help change your city, county, and state laws, sign up to receive action alerts from Voices for No More Homeless Pets at yourvoice.bestfriends.org.
    •  Speak out in your community. Write to the editor of your local newspaper about puppy mills that keep their animals in unacceptable conditions.
    •  Elect animal-friendly candidates. Ask candidates if they support regulating commercial breeders and what they would do about puppy mills. Let them know you support stricter puppy mill regulations and that you