Tommy Lee Supports Animal Adoption, Calls Pet Stores 'A Bad Scene'

Frazer Harrison, Getty Images

"The road gets pretty lonely, man, sometimes," Tommy Lee told Rolling Stone in a recent interview. Ordinarily, such a statement might lead into a conversation about drugs and groupies, two things the Mötley Crüe drummer once consumed like food and water, but as it happens, Lee has a new cure for tour monotony: his puppy Bowie.

Lee is smitten with the dog, who he and his girlfriend rescued from an animal shelter in Van Nuys, Calif., and now he's using his celebrity to promote pet adoption and discourage people from shopping at pet stores.

"The [shelter] is scary," Lee told Rolling Stone. "It is loaded with beautiful dogs and I would highly encourage people not to buy animals from a pet store."

"They're bred for all the wrong reasons, for mostly money and it's just kind of a bad scene," he added. "We ended up going [to the shelter] and I'm so glad we did."

While Lee isn't officially affiliated with the ASPCA, Cori Menkin, head of that organization's No Pet Store Puppies initiative, says the rocker's words carry a lot of power. According to Menkin, the majority of people surveyed don't support puppy mills -- which are often blamed for poor treatment of dogs -- but they also don't realize that's where pet shops tend to get their dogs.

"Having someone like Tommy Lee and other celebrities send this message out to their fans really raises the awareness on this issue," Menkin said. "It's such a huge boon."

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