Pass state inspection for dog breeders | DesMoinesRegister.com | The Des Moines Register
Pass state inspection for dog breeders
March 13, 2009
Puppy mills, distinguished from responsible breeders, breed as many dogs as possible with no regard for the animals' welfare. They spend their entire lives penned up in small cages without any exercise, often in deplorable, filthy conditions that promote disease.
All they ever want is to be loved and belong to a family.
Iowans have the opportunity to stop the inhumane treatment. Currently, dog breeders who sell wholesale to puppy stores or brokers are required only to get a federal USDA license and are not subject to further regulation or inspection by the state.
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There are 460 USDA-licensed breeding kennels in Iowa, ranking the state third in the nation for number of such operations. The USDA does not have adequate staff to inspect all of the state's kennels. The closest office that handles complaints for Iowa is in Colorado.
Thousands of puppies are sold in Iowa under the radar, directly to the public, without USDA inspection. We have a pending legislative bill, House File 486, that would allow state inspection of a puppy mill by the Iowa Department of Agriculture.
Thirty four other states have enacted state restriction and humane standards for mills in the last four years.
- Linda Sorenson, Des Moines