HelpingAnimals.com // Help An Animal // Factsheets // Puppy Mills: Dogs Abused for the Pet Trade Inadequate Inspections
The USDA is supposed to monitor and inspect kennels to ensure that they are not violating the housing standards of the Animal Welfare Act, but kennel inspections are a low priority. In the U.S., there are more than 1,000 research facilities, more than 2,800 exhibitors, and 4,500 dealers that are supposed to be inspected each year.(19)
There are three APHIS sector offices with a total of approximately 70 veterinary inspectors who are supposed to inspect, unannounced, the various types of facilities covered by the AWA.(20)
This means that 70 inspectors have to cover more than 8,300 facilities nationwide.
Puppy mills are rarely monitored by state governments, and existing regulations vary from state to state. In Missouri, for instance, each of the 2,100 facilities is supposed to be inspected once a year, but there are only 12 inspectors employed to handle the task.(21) Even with an estimated 1,300 puppy mills in Wisconsin, inspections of breeder facilities that sell at least 50 dogs and cats are voluntary, and there is no funding for enforcement of these regulations.(22,23)
Puppy Mills - Missouri State Auditor reports
According to the audit, the Department of Agriculture is not meeting its statutory responsibility to inspect annually all of the licensed commercial pet breeders in Missouri. In 2006, the audit revealed that the department failed to inspect 40% of the known licensed commercial breeders. Approximately 1,100 commercial breeders were not inspected that year. This number does not reflect the many pet breeding facilities in Missouri that are unlicensed and currently evading proper registration.