[News] Puppy Mill Bills Across the Nation
 

Puppy Mill Bills Across the Nation

StarNewsOnline: The Voice of Southeastern North Carolina

Contributed by Tammy Miller - Posted: February 27, 2009 4:58:24 PM

I'm getting regular legislative updates from its home state and from across the country.
There is a surprising level of activity on the issue of puppy mills. Here's the latest roundup on legislation that might affect mass breeders ...

Colorado - Bill introduced January 21 to limit the number of dogs breeders could maintain has been tabled.
If it comes back up, it could also mandate regular veterinary exams and prohibit those convicted of animal cruelty from gaining a breeder license.

Connecticut - The state could pass new regulations that allow double-the-money-back from stores that sell pets found to have chronic diseases or disabilities.

Illinois - Bill introduced January 19 know as Chloe's Bill. If passed it would create a Dog Breeder License Act, which would limit the number of breeding dogs to 20 for each breeder.
And -
- Prevent those convicted of felony animal abuse from obtaining a breeding license.
- Require dog breeders to house dogs in areas heated, cooled and vented - without wire flooring.
- Require stores and breeders to provide buyers with full medical histories and spay/neuter information.

Indiana - House Bill 1468 defines a commercial breeder those whelping more than 10 litters in any 12-month period. It might also ...
- Limit breeding dogs to 30 per location.
- Require registration with the state.
- Exercise once per day.
- Maintenance of sanitary conditions and proper ventilation and natural light.
- Require commercial breeder to offer a guarantee.
- Set veterinary care standards and limits on litters a breeding female can whelp each year.
This bill passed easily in the Indiana House and is set to go a Senate committee.

Montana - Columbus Top Dogs reports 189 dogs were seized from a mill in December, which prompted the introduction of an anti-hoarding bill.
Breeders with 20 or more adult dogs could be required to register with the state and submit to annual, surprise inspections.

Nebraska - Bill introduced on February 2 could by April, 2010 limit commercial breeders to 75 dogs over the age of four months. It could also set standards for breeding ages and establish standards for living conditions.

Ohio - A new bill is in the works similar to the one introduced in Indiana.
Folks in the animal welfare movement are hoping to introduce a ballot initiative in 2009 to ban dog auctions.

Oklahoma - The Oklahoma Pet Quality Assurance and Protection Act (HB 1332) has made it out of a committee vote and next goes to the full House.
This act mandates USDA standards for kennels sending out over 25 dogs, cats, kittens or puppies each year. Cage minimum standards are included.

Pennsylvania - A house bill has pass with a 192-0 vote. This one impose criminal penalties for medical procedures not performed by a licensed vet - including c-sections, tail docking and surgeries to stop barking.
It now goes to the Senate.

Tennessee - HB 386 would require any breeder with more than 20 animals to pay a $500 licensing fee to the state. More than 40 animals increases the fee to $1,000. A mandatory inspection program is also established with minimum standards for care and housing.
Another bill might prohibit public animal sales such as those in parking lots and along the roadside. It would also prohibit the use of live animals as prizes for contests, raffles or promotion and restrict sales at flea markets.
Washington - Bills are being considered to regulate large breeders and to set humane standards such as limits to the number of dogs and standards for care and housing.

They also should add Manditory Jail for years and years. It seems like they never really get punished for such horrible abuse.
Wire floors should be banned.
Thanks for the update!

I agree Deb. They need to at least experience long-term what it's like to ben penned up, caged up - solitary confinement would be the best choice - so they know what it is like not to have care & concern shown for them

JUST AN IDEA --- Maybe we could use this thread to update these Puppy Mill Bills legislation. So if you find out something going on in your state -- or another state, please post it here.

Thanks for the info.

Look like we won an other small battle...

But we haven't won the war ....

Subject: Oregon ~ HB 2470 ~ An excellent summary of the 2/23/09 hearing Talented Animals Blog » Oregon HB2470 First Legislative Session Summary

I thought this was pretty informative on what goes on at the hearings.
You know me, I HATE big government legislation. With all the mill busts, it looks like the current laws are doing just fine. The sentencing is a little lax, the penalty not severe enough. Why is it necessary for MORE legislation? Do we really need more fees and fines? Big Brother watches us too much already. It will never end until there will be no more breeders good or bad.

I agree that I don't want more of Big Brother - we seem to be at an all time high for this on everything in our country right now. But on the same hand what would you recommend happen to help shut down these mills?

I did like the thread that I posted about what the Ark. Gov. signed into law, because I think this could cover most puppy mills. http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/yor...ls-felony.html

And I would certainly like to see the penalties increased drastically - personally I think it should be no different than if you are abusing or neglecting your children (and I have worked in social services - so no one lecture me on how animals & children are 2 different things)

But what as a breeder would you like to see happen? I do not want to see show breeders or even those breeding to better the breed even for pet homes to be put out of business - but where do you draw the line?

I think we live in a sick society that has allowed it to get this bad. Dogs are not a commodity. :(

:thumbup: good post!! I dont know how to effectively re-word the legislation that is raining down on responsible breeders like a ton of bricks. This is the slippery slope. Where do you draw the line? Peta and H$U$ have strong lobbiests and millions of $$$. Their agenda is to abolish ALL breeding. They see mills the same way they see responsible breeders. There is no difference to them. I know the AkC reps are working very hard with the language of the bills.

Iowa's vote is next week! Please, if you are in Iowa - call your House and Senate rep in your area!!! see below:

Our puppy mill bill has passed out of the House subcommittee and committee, as well as the Senate subcommittee and committee!!!!! This means that the bill will now be moving to both the full House floor and full Senate floor for voting in the next week. We need calls and emails to all senators and all representatives in the next few days asking them to support this bill and vote YES.



Note that the bill has two different numbers -- HF30 and SSB1242 -- but it is the same bill; just numbered differently in the House and Senate. (Just FYI -- the Senate bill will get a different number assigned to it in the next few days; but for now it is SSB1242.)



Call to Action

House bill number is HF30.

We need calls going to your Representatives ASAP -- ask them to support HF30 as it is. Please call your Representative and tell them you are a constituent of theirs and you are calling regarding HF30. Ask them to support this bill; vote yes; and get it passed this year. Please make your calls today -- we need them to know ASAP we want their support on this legislation!



Senate bill number is SSB1242.

Same messages to your Senators -- !!!!! Ask them to support SSB1242 as it is! Tell them you are a constituent and that you are calling regarding SSB1242; you want them to support this bill; vote yes; and get it passed this year!

Thank you for posting some info on what is going on in Iowa. Do you know where the information is posted with the language of this bill? I would like to read it.

Here is the link:

Iowa General Assembly - Track Legislation

Just put in the HB or SBB number under "Track Bill" and you will find it.

Indiana HB 1468
 

This has passeed the house and is now going to the Senate Committee. This will hurt all breeders in Indiana, the one in Illinois is even worse. Go to American Kennel Club - akc.org, and then go to Legislation, there they have links and phone numbers to the governor, and your senators. Please do not let this bill pass. It affects everyone that has over five puppies a year. This bill is not after Puppy Mills, it will affect all dog fanciers!!

Indiana House Bill 1468
 

Go to American Kennel Club - akc.org Then go to Legislation, there you can read the entire bills for all of the states, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana. The Indiana House Bill 1468 is off to the Senate Commitee, so everyone write the governor, AKC, has a letter that you can personalize, and contact information for the senators and governor. This will affect all breeders, and eventually affect all potential puppy owners. If responsible breeders and dog fanciers can no longer breed, Potential puppy owners will be only buying black market puppies. It would be ashame, that the only dogs available, would illegally produced puppies at the shelters, and dogs shipped in from other states with no laws. These bills are not concerned about the welfare of the dogs, as they are with their own agendas. It affects all people selling more than five puppies a year. Please write your elected officials.

If passed, House Bill 1468 would, among other provisions (this is from the AKC Website):

Limit ownership to 30 dogs that are at least one year of age and are not spayed or neutered.
Protect a dog purchaser from buying a dog with disease or other health conditions, but provide no recourse for breeders victimized by false accusations.
Label anyone who sells five dogs in a year a "pet dealer".
Exempt shelters and other rescue organizations from the standards of care required for dog breeders

What is wrong with limiting a breeder to 30 adult dogs? This sounds like more than plenty to have a good breeding program. This is an honest question - not trying to stir trouble :)

I agree and in fact I think 30 is wwwwwway to many...it would help explain pet overpopulation.

I think many people come on here and post without reading the bills or even understanding them. I don't see how anyone can justify the number of animals that are euthanized (mixed or purebred) every year at our pounds.:mad:

It's not the number that counts
 

30 dogs is enough to have a good breeding program, but that is not really the point. In Illinois they want the maximum to be 20. It is the rights that are being taken away. We start with something like this, supposedly to shut down puppy mills, and then we end up like California with mandatory spay and nueter, no tail docking, or ear cropping, Where does it end? What are we willing to let the government control?

This is supposed to be about puppy mills, This will not stop them. It will make them go further underground. You can put 100 dogs stacked in cages in a basement, meet people at the circle K, and run ads with a prepaid cell phones. Since puppy mills don't register their dogs with the akc, or anyother so called registries, who will control them? Will this bill stop them? The Answer is NO...

It is a violation of civil liberties, that will only affect the people following the rules...

I guess I have to ask you what is your definition of a puppy mill? AKC does register large volume breeders puppies. There are many registries that will register these dogs.

You can go to the AKC website and type in volume breeders to read their stand.

http://www.akc.org/pdfs/about/specia...VBC_finalA.pdf

http://www.akc.org/pdfs/about/delega...pt02_forum.pdf

American Kennel Club - Testimony of AKC Chairman of the Board Ronald Menaker

American Kennel Club - AKC Chairman Says Recent Pennsylvania Kennel Seizure Illustrates Need for Legislation

High Volume Breeders Committee ...Five Years Later by Gretchen Bernardi
- Terrierman's Daily Dose -

Talk Gwinnett! - AKC's Armageddon Plan for Shelter Dogs?

But some puppy mills are AKC - and that is in AKC's lap! AKC has not done a good job themselves either. They allow for mills & BYB to continue registering dogs with them. AKC could put a stop to some of this themselves by enacting some new polices.

Granted, it does not all fall at AKC's feet. But AKC needs to step up to the plate also with lobbying for bills that don't hurt a quality breeder. But right now with a foot in each world - why would any legislator listen to them?

What would you propose to stop the puppy mills? Are you saying just turn your back on those dogs & the horrid people running them, just to save the breeder?

I think that if a complaint is made on a breeder, or puppy mill, then local authorities should have a right to search the premises, just like if a complaint is made to the akc, they will come and inspect the premises. If the law is being broken because animals are living under cruel conditions, then the law needs to be enforced.

So you don't think puppy mills should be shut down?

I have to disagree. These mills do need to be shut down.

I believe breeder organizations & AKC, if they can straighten themselves out & figure out who they really want to be. need to try & fight for the responsible breeder so things do not go to the extremes that you suggest. Yes, that takes time, $ and effort - it's ugly how that works in our country when you have to face these powerful lobbying arms, but breeders can't sit back & cry, they have to help create alternative legislation that will keep themselves and their dogs safe & establish new standards in this country.

Puppy Mills should be shut down
 

Puppy Mills should be shut down! What makes it a puppy Mill? If you are breeding for champion dogs, how many litters can you have a year and not be considered a puppy mill?

I think that a puppy mill, is a place where the dogs are dirty, uncared for, their health is the last thing the owner thinks about. They only want to breed as much as they can for as long as they can. These places are disgusting and should be shut down.

Say no!!!!!!!!
 

I dont want some one tell me how many dogs I can have I only have two breeding females and I am a show breeder. You are so right about Puppy mill I want them shut down. The reason the exsist is because people buy from them. When you go to petstore and purchase a puppy 90 percent of the time it is a puppy mill. You should do your homework ask to see the stud and dam. This bill is a good thing concerning puppymills but most of it is directed to the small breeder and show breeders. Please read the entire bill the draw your conclusion not just the first three paragraphs. I said this before in another post. This bill is not about a certain breed what if you had a litter of labs, or german shepards if they had more then 5 puppies you would be breaking the law if you sold them. I hate puppy mill but they will do just what everyone says just go farther under ground. I feel AKC does a good job and most puppymill dont sell AKC puppies

:thumbup::thumbup:Give the government and inch and they will take a mile!! And the problem will never be solved by governmental control.

:thumbup:Seems like with all the recent puppy mill busts, things are working just fine without all of the badly worded legislation.

:thumbup:good post!!

Heres some food for thought:
 

Here is the information on the Oklahoma legislation:

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/gen...ll-hb1332.html

Best Friends Helping to End Puppy Mills
 

Special Features | Special Features

The numbers ($$$) tell the real story!

The USDA – understaffed and ineffective

The commercial pet trade is regulated (though, many would argue, not closely enough) by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS). The USDA is responsible for administering the Animal Welfare Act, which requires breeders, brokers and dealers to provide minimal basic care to their nimals. Anyone who breeds pets for the wholesale trade or sells stock to other breeders must obtain Class A licenses, while brokers and dealers are required to obtain Class B licenses. This does not apply to breeders who sell directly to the public.

The majority of these factory farms are concentrated in Pennsylvania and the Midwest – Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma. Missouri, which has more mills than any other state, is by far the worst – a “black hole of despair,”

Under the Animal Welfare Act, breeders must provide nutritious food, clean water and housing that is kept dry and cleaned of waste. They must also provide adequate veterinary care and observe their animals daily. But the regulations still allow for keeping dogs in cages, albeit with “sufficient space to allow each dog and cat to turn about freely, to stand, sit and lie in a comfortable, normal position, and to walk in a normal manner.”

How big is that? The USDA-APHIS has a formula. Each dog must be provided with a space calculated by dividing the mathematical square length of the dog plus six inches by 144. The dog must also be given just six inches of space above his head. So, a dog who is 40 inches long can be given just 14.69 square feet of space (roughly the size of a bathtub).

Are the regulations enforced? Well, the USDA-APHIS is understaffed and, by most accounts, ineffective. According to USDA spokesman Darby Holladay, between 115 and 120 inspectors enforce the Animal Welfare Act and the Horse Protection Act. Holladay added that there are 15,000 licensees and registrants under the Animal Welfare Act alone, but he told Best Friends he couldn’t comment on whether or not he thought the agency was understaffed.
Those 120 inspectors are responsible for monitoring not only thousands of breeders, brokers and dealers, but zoos, circuses and research facilities as well.

The USDA levied more than $1.5 million in fines in 2005-06, and the agency’s general counsel listed scores of complaints on alleged violations of the Animal Welfare Act. If animals are in extreme danger, the USDA works with local agencies to confiscate the animals. Holladay said, “We do that quite often.”
But although commercial breeders who violate the Animal Welfare Act can receive a civil penalty of up to $3,750 per day per violation, a glance at USDA inspection reports shows that some puppy millers have been able to tally up violation after violation, and still keep operating.

“There’s such a lack of enforcement and so much recidivism,” Wilkins said. “They’re not being watched and regulated.” Fry agrees. “If the USDA were to levy those fines, they would have all the resources they need to regulate that industry.”

Take the case of Gary McDuffee in Morrison County, Minnesota. Despite a five-year history of USDA violations, Morrison County commissioners still issued McDuffee a new conditional-use permit for a facility that could hold up to 500 adult dogs plus any number of puppies. Previous violations included cages that were too small, cages that were deteriorating and contained sharp and dangerous materials, failure to clean animals’ enclosures, failure to label shipped animals as live cargo, and use of expired or outdated drugs or medications.

The McDuffee case drew nationwide attention and put the puppy mill issue back in the headlines. Animal welfare advocates, including those with Fry’s organization, plan to appeal the ruling. Best Friends supporters have contributed $20,000 to help with the appeal.
Holladay says the USDA does try to educate its license holders and bring them into compliance. But Fry says some breeders just aren’t getting it. “You’d think after five years of noncompliance,” he said, “they’d realize educating them wasn’t working.”

Not only is the USDA lax in its regulation of commercial breeding operations, but it has actually poured money into them.
The USDA has loaned the Hunte Corporation, a large Missouri-based dealer and the largest wholesaler of puppies sold in pet shops, more than $4 million in recent years for expansion and upgrades. Hunte, which has grown 35 times its original size since 1991, is involved in the transport and sale of animals to 300 pet stores around the world.

Puppy mills and pet stores depend on each other. It’s estimated that 90 to 98 percent of dogs sold by pet stores come from puppy mills, according to a Best Friends study. The Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council estimates that 3,700 of the nation’s 11,500 pet stores are selling dogs from puppy mills – about 300,000 to 400,000 puppies per year.

Only half the dogs bred at puppy mills even make it to the pet shops. The other half die from the mills’ squalid conditions, hypothermia, starvation or the horrors of transport.

AKC
The American Kennel Club name alone conjures up images of the crème de la crème of canines proudly prancing around a show ring with their handlers. Surely they all came from the finest of dog lines, their parents pampered and cared for by their loving owners.

Think again.

“The AKC makes between $20 million and $30 million a year off dog registrations,” Fry said. “A large percentage of that is from puppy mills. It’s a cash cow. Without those registrations coming in, they would take a serious loss in income.”

According to the AKC’s 2006 audit report, the AKC made more than $33 million from registration fees, accounting for almost half of the registry’s $72 million in total revenues that year.

Lisa Peterson, AKC’s director of communications, said the AKC does inspect breeders. She said breeders who produce four to six litters a year are randomly selected for inspection. Breeders who produce seven or more litters a year are inspected every 18 months. If they pass two inspections in a row, they get one inspection cycle off and then go back on the rotation. Peterson said the AKC, which has 14 inspectors, conducted about 5,000 inspections last year. “When our inspectors go in to inspect,” Peterson said, “breeders have to meet our standards of care for dogs.”

The AKC has fined and suspended breeders who use their registry who have been convicted for cruelty to animals (the average penalty is 10 years and a $2,000 fine) or who have failed to comply with the AKC’s Care and Conditions Policy, which usually brings a one-year suspension and a $1,000 fine, according to AKC documents.

Yet the AKC has consistently come out against state legislation that would require the most basic care standards, such as Minnesota’s Senate File 121 and House File 1046, as well as Pennsylvania governor Edward Rendell’s efforts to strengthen that state’s dog laws.

“We oppose any legislation that takes away the right of the owner to determine what’s best for their pets,” Peterson said.

Money – and lots of it – keeps puppy mills in business. Breeders, animal brokers, pet stores, veterinarians and even the American Kennel Club (AKC) make big bucks from all those puppies. In 2006, the AKC registered 870,000 individual dogs and 416,000 litters. At $20 per dog and $25 per litter (plus $2 per puppy), that’s well over $30 million.

Many more articles to read:
Special Features | Special Features
Puppy mill awareness
Special Features | Special Features
How you can help:
Special Features | Special Features

Thank you!!
 

I love the last post. What people do not understand is many puppy mills are AKC. You see AKC puppies in pet stores all the time and most that would put their puppies in pet stores it is because they don't want people coming to their house where they raise their puppies. They have something to hide!! AKC tries to act as if they are trying to stop puppy mills but they are not. I just reg. a litter of maltese puppies with AKC and they send coupon for my next litter. This would be great up it goes out of date in 17 days. This coupon only are helping save money for the breeders that have litters every other week. So AKC love big time breeders. Lots of money to be made!! I don't think the number of dogs you have makes you a puppy mill, I think it is how they are raised and housed. :D