Congratulations to the students who won La Prensa’s writing challenge and thank you to Maumee Valley Country Day Schools for encouraging student participation! During January and February 2026 students in grades 3 and above were asked to submit original news-style stories for a chance to be featured in La Prensa Newspaper. Congratulations to winners Sullivan Hampton and Phoebe McAndrew.
Puppy Mills Exposed
By Sullivan Hampton
Puppy mills are terrible. They are kept in cages their whole lives. They keep dogs in cages their entire lives .They barely have food. The dogs are bred. Female dogs reproduce approximately nine times a year until they can produce no more, then they go to pet stores. It is not against the law. The law states that you must keep him/her in a cage that is only six feet larger than he/she is, so that he is kept in it twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week..Imagine being locked in a cage your whole life. Wouldn’t that be terrible? Well, I think so. If we repeal that ley, dogs will be safe.
There are 16 puppy mills in Ohio. Puppy kennel owners can earn between $40,000 and $500,000 a year, depending on the size of their operation and the demand for dogs.
In puppy mills, the agua y comida are often dirty and can sometimes pose serious health risks to the animals. Dogs and puppies raised in factory farms often suffer serious health problems, such as swollen or bleeding paw pads, chronic ear infections, and eye injuries that can cause ceguera, primarily due to negligent breeding practices and poor living conditions. They can also be found with their legs and paws sticking out of the wiry cages. Most farms don’t even clean up after the dogs which leads them to living on poop and pee. Also, tight or embedded collars are, unfortunately, a common sign in dogs from puppy mills, reflecting the neglect and unsafe conditions they suffer. Sometimes, very carefully, they have to cut it off before they choke. Please help the dogs.To help, you can tell your family members and friends. Also, pet stores buy puppies from puppy mills. So if you stop buying puppies from pet stores, the more they will slash the price and lower the amount of dogs they buy from puppy mills. If you still want a dog still, shelters and rescues are great places to adopt dogs. On mayo 20th, National Rescue Dog Day is one of the best times of la año. You’re not only finding a companion but participating.
Shut down puppy mills, open your heart.
Littering is Bad for Nature
By Phoebe McAndrew
What do you care about? I care about animals and many animals get injured or sick because of litter. You are going to read about how litter affects land animals, water animals and plants. There are so many more animals that are affected by litter and debris but we are only going to talk about a few. Keep reading to learn more about how animals are affected by litter.
To start, many sea birds get injured or sick because of litter. They will try to eat plastic, get caught on fishing lines or become sick because of debris in the sea. This is one example of how littering affects land animals. To add, raccoons get affected by litter too. When they are searching for food they can get their head stuck or plastic cups. This is another way that litter and trash hurts land animals. Finally, deer are also affected by litter. When trying to find food they can get stuck in plastic bags or get cut by broken glass. This demonstrates how litter effects land animals. As you can see litter and debris is bad for land animals.
To begin, leather back sea turtles are endangered because of litter. They can mistake plastic bags for jelly fish and try to eat them then get sick or stuck in the bag or plastic rings. This is one example of how water animals are affected by litter and debris. Secondly, coral reefs can get damaged because of litter. Debris in the sea can hit the reef then break and tear the reef. Which can cause habitat loss. This is a great example of how litter and debris can affect water animals. Finally, sea lions are partly endangered because of litter and debris in the ocean. They can get caught in fishing nets and plastic bands and bags can get caught around their neck. Therefore they swim slower and it makes it harder for them to catch food. This demonstrates how litter affects sea lions. For these reasons littering can affect water animals.
To add, litter can prevent sunlight from getting to the plants making it harder for plants to grow and stay alive. This demonstrates one way that litter and debris can affect plants. Secondly, it releases toxins in the dirt which makes it harder for the plants to thrive. This is just one more example of how litter can affect plants. Finally, it can stop or slow down the plants growth. Also 80% of food comes from plants! So it could mess up the food chain. For these reasons littering is harmful to plants.
As you can see littering is making bad affects to the nature. Litter also affects so many more animals we only covered a few. If no one thew away trash or recycled things nature would be terrible. Image looking into your back yard and seeing litter and trash. Wouldn’t that be horrible. For these reasons it is important to not litter or let debris or trash in the sea. What are you doing? Go clean up some trash today!