Washington Cracks Down On Puppy Mills
Washington had no statewide laws to crack down on puppy mills, things are about to change. The impetus behind a new bill was the discovery of horrific conditions in local puppy mills that were raided in January.
State lawmakers corrected this oversight with a strong bill passed by the Legislature this week. The bill prohibits breeders from possessing more than 50 non-neutered dogs older than 6 months at one time. It sets standards for kennel size, exercise and sanitary conditions.
The bill’s language is a clarion call for basic humane treatment of dogs. Breeders will have to provide clean food and water, keep cages clean and allow dogs to leave their cages for at least an hour a day. Violators could be charged with a gross misdemeanor.
Commercial dog breeding requires standards and state oversight to monitor against unsanitary conditions and to protect consumers from the sale of sick and dying animals. There are environmental and public-health reasons to regulate these businesses, including the potential for soil and groundwater contamination and the spread of infectious diseases by poorly cared-for animals.
This is great news, but it’s sad there need to be laws so that these animals are humanely treated, you would hope that’s a given. The legislation now goes to the desk of Gov. Chris Gregoire, where it should be quickly signed into law.
*ADOPTABLE: Beautiful Lilly needs a home, she’s currently be fostered near Glen Ellyn, IL
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU….. TO WHO WROTE THE BILL. There are no words that could measure the amount of gratitude we have for this. Again, THANK YOU….
iam so so happy that some got the this bill and it going to pass it time to stop all puppy mills angian thank you
Personally, I think it is a step in the right direction. However, I would set the number at 10, that would allow time for each dog to have some attention and better care. Fifty dogs are still too many, think, if they are large breeds and the breeder is unscrupulous it is still possible to breed the fifty dogs twice a year and have 100 litters, thus presenting the world with a potential one thousand to twelve or thirteen hundred new pups.
I suppose that puppy mills will circumvent the limits by claiming that there are various owners and claim they are running boarding kennels.
A lower number of dogs on premises would defer all but those breeders who raise dogs for love of their breed. A limit of ten would make it a non lucrative enterprise.
While it may be a good start. I think what most people don’t realize is that really bad places are the ones that are not licensed and therefore not monitored. They are hiding out or on the move. Officials don’t know about them so don’t inspect them. The other sad thing is there are too few people to monitor the licensed kennels. Much less look for the others.
Lets rally to get more inspectors in each State! Which means more money has to go toward it!
More states need to create and enforce laws mandating minimum care for all animals. Breeding or not breeding, lizards to puppies. But the one thing people don’t seem to get is by limiting the number of dogs a person can breed you will increase the price the public pays for puppies. Most people complain about the prices pet stores charge for puppies. Well if you stop all the large breeders from breeding then you reduce the supply drastically. This will increase the price drastically since demand won’t go away it will just increase. This means that only the rich will be able to afford a puppy. This also means many less people will have dogs which means pet supply places, vets, groomers, dog walkers, and anyone else in the pet industry will probably go out of business. Animals may be living beings but they still are part of supply and demand. This will never change.
Dear John, ever heard of adoption? And who buys puppies at the pet store anyways? Haven’t you heard? Oh, you flunked economics 101, btw.
Signed
Proud adoptees Nero and Homer
living beings and flipping off supply and demand. We are the change!
so, if puppies are more expensive there just may be fewer of them GOOD!!! There are way too many now, not just mixed breeds, accidents etc. Just LOOK at the postings from shelters and rescue groups. Many of those puppies being bred INTENTIONALLY by “breeders” (who are REALLY puppy mills) are SURPLUS… they end up being abused, neglected and euthanized. People USED to be part of the supply and demand too…ever heard of SLAVERY??? I guess maybe there were people then who thought that should just go on too. It WAS always so in one culture or another from cave man days…Having established roots did not make it RIGHT..just think how the plantation owners suffered from their loss…
PLEASE THINK. “ANIMALS” are sentient beings and they have emotions. They are smarter than most folks think and really do suffer emotionally. So WHY would anyone want to proliferate a population of animals being bred into existence with a certainty that a good percentage of those critters will be suffering?
We truly need LESS puppies to be born and REGULATION is a great step, STRICT regulation is a better step and MANDATORY neutering is the best plan of all.
All dogs registered with local gvt and licensed. I seem to remember that back in CT years ago, (I lived there then) if you didn’t license you dog from year to year, the dog warden could come to your house to find out WHY (city pop 105,000), this tells me that regulation IS possible.
I have SEVEN dogs each of them (even those of the same breed, sisters even) has their own unique personality. Dogs, according to a newly released study are most like humans behaviorally speaking, more like us than chimps…supply and demand…maybe that needs a rethink.
Personally, I think in our culture, dogs are just another thing we want. This is in some way demonstrated by the excess to which we breed dogs for certain looks, for example Take the English Bulldog. A handsome breed, but riddled with health issues, however, still a popular dog. This is just one example. It is totally right and true to stop the prolific breeding as seen in puppy farming, but we need to look at breeding generally; the kind carried out by so called genuine breeders also, and look at ways we can ensure the health of future generations of puppies.