Backers: 'Puppy mill' bill in danger
Backers: 'Puppy mill' bill in danger | DesMoinesRegister.com | The Des Moines Register
Lots of comments already online
By TONY LEYS •
tleys@dmreg.com • March 7, 2009
An animal-rights group complained Friday that a prominent Iowa legislator is holding up a bill that would crack down on "puppy mills."
The activists suspect Rep. Dolores Mertz plans to kill their bill, House File 486. They said the bill passed the Public Safety Committee last week and appeared headed to the House floor, but Mertz asked that it first be brought before the House Agriculture Committee, of which she is chairwoman.
The bill would allow state officials to inspect federally licensed dog breeders if someone filed a complaint about the businesses.
Advocates say the bill is needed because some of the dog breeders with the worst conditions hold licenses from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They said Iowa and Kansas are the only states that do not have some control over such facilities, and they added that Iowa is the nation's third-largest supplier of puppies.
Mary LaHay, director of Iowa Voters for Companion Animals, said many dog breeders are legitimate. But she said some keep dogs in horrible conditions, such as being crammed in small cages around the clock. "They might never get out in their lives," she said. "They might spend eight years in a cage."
Mertz denied doing anything underhanded. She said bills occasionally are considered by two committees before going to the House floor.
The Ottosen Democrat said the bill will get a fair hearing, but she expressed mixed emotions about it. She said that she does not support irresponsible breeders but doubts they are a major problem.
"There might be a few bad ones out there, but you shouldn't punish everyone for a few," she said.
Mertz said she is wary about adding duties to overburdened state inspectors when federal inspectors already oversee many dog breeders.
The bill is opposed by a dog breeders' group called the Iowa Federation of Animal Owners. Chairman Joe Gerst, who raises Yorkshire terriers in Amana, said federal inspectors do a good job of overseeing the 450 Iowa breeders who have federal licenses. He said the debate over the bill diverts attention from the real problem, which is unlicensed breeders.
Gerst said he was not comforted by the fact that, under the bill, state inspectors would stay away from federally licensed breeders unless they received a complaint. He said animal-rights activists could file baseless complaints about legitimate breeders. "When you're in this business, you're a target," he said.
Rep. Mark Kuhn, a Charles City Democrat who supports the bill, said he was unsure why leaders sent it to the Agriculture Committee instead of to the floor. "If it needs further work, that's fine," he said. "But if they put it there to die, that's disappointing."