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With 23 puppy mills — intensive breeding operations that supply puppies for the pet trade — Missouri again led the “Horrible Hundred” list compiled by the Humane Society of the United States to call attention to what the organization calls inhumane conditions.
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The Humane Society estimates there are 10,000 puppy mills in the United States, many of them unlicensed and not subject to any oversight. The Horrible Hundred report was compiled by researchers in the Humane Society’s puppy mill campaign who combed through federal and state inspection reports, then put together a list based on the 100 top complaints and citations against puppy mills.
“We can’t say they’re the worst,” Kathleen Summers, director of outreach and research for the animal welfare group’s puppy mills campaign, told Patch. “In fact, they’re probably not the worst, because we don’t have information every puppy mill, but they are some of the most problematic.”
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Some states, like Arkansas, don’t license dog breeders at all, Summers said. (Get Across America Patch’s daily newsletter and real-time news alerts. Or, find your local Patch here and subscribe. Like us on Facebook. Also, download the free Patch iPhone app or free Patch Android app.)
“We’re not against dog breeding if the dogs are treated humanely and the way most people with common sense and compassion would treat their pets,” Summers said. That includes ensuring dogs have ample space to move around, get regular walks, and have decent food and beds.
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“We don’t have a problem with breeding on a small scale,” Summers said, “but at some facilities with hundreds of dogs, their feet never touch the ground. They’re kept in wire cages, and when they can’t produce litters, they’re abandoned or killed.”
Some of the puppy mills on the Horrible Hundred list have seriously ill dogs that haven’t been treated by vets, are underweight and are forced to stand in feces, she said. Individuals keeping their dogs in such conditions likely would charged with animal cruelty, “but commercial breeders aren’t held to the same standards and we don’t think that’s right,” Summers said.
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Missouri has topped the dubious Horrible Hundred list for six consecutive years now. In Missouri, Humane Society researchers noted one 400-dog operation where 26 puppies and adult dogs were so thin their rib cages were showing, suffered muscle atrophy, and were kept in inadequate and unsafe housing. In another case, the dogs’ hair was so matted the breed was unrecognizable, according to the report.
Ohio ranked second with 13 puppy mills that were the subject of complaints, followed by Iowa with 10, Pennsylvania with nine and Wisconsin with eight.
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Some kennels cited in the report have been quarantined for diseases that can spread to cattle and humans, the report said. Among them is a drug-resistant strain of Campylobacter, which spread to 113 people in 17 states, hospitalizing 23, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last fall. The CDC said in its outbreak advisory that the majority of people who were infected by the multi-drug-resistant strain of Campylobacter had recently had contact with a puppy from a Petland pet store.
“Investigations by the Humane Society of the United States have repeatedly proven the link between pet stores and puppy mills, and some researchers believe that dogs raised in commercial kennels have a higher incidence of antibiotic resistant diseases,” the Humane Society said. “This is likely due to the fact that dogs living in unsanitary environments must be repeatedly treated, eventually developing resistant bacteria.”
Despite reports like that, the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2017 began removing information about dog breeders from public Animal Welfare Act records.
“Over the 12-month period since we published our last report, USDA inspectors have continued to find conditions just as horrific as those in our prior reports, including dogs with open wounds, emaciated dogs with their ribs and spines showing, and dogs with moldy food, dirty water and filthy cages,” the Humane Society said in a statement. “The difference is that this year, we don’t always know which operators have been found with such dreadful conditions.”
The lack of transparency makes it difficult for consumers to determine if they’re supporting a dog-breeding operations that practice inhumane conditions, and also hinders the efforts of law enforcement in jurisdictions that use inspection reports to determine if dog breeding operations are in compliance with state and local laws, the report said.
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“The suffering these animals face seems even more unjust, because most of the identities of their breeders have been kept secret by the USDA — the very agency charged with protecting dogs in puppy mills and keeping bad breeders in line,” the report said.
Still, researchers for the Horrible Hundred list were able to identify most dealers using other documents, including state inspection reports from Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, none of which redacted information.
The USDA has not revoked a dog breeder’s license anywhere in the United States since the 2017 Horrible Hundreds report, which the Humane Society said is “very unusual” and was the “most disturbing change of all.” In 2016, for example, the USDA revoked the licenses of at least nine dog breeders. Revocations were similar in previous years, Summers said.
Equally troubling, the Humane Society said, is that the USDA has proposed allowing third party groups to inspect puppy mills and other types of animal dealers.
“This move could allow industry groups that have a financial stake in perpetuating puppy mills to be part of the inspection process, effectively putting the fox in charge of the henhouse,” the Humane Society said.
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Also, the USDA notified dog breeders that the agency was considering announcing some inspections in advance.
About 3,000 dog breeders are licensed by the USDA, “but with USDA backpedaling the way it is, that license means nothing,” Summers said.
Most of the public enforcement records on puppy mills and other regulated animal dealers were removed from the USDA website on Feb. 3, 2017. Information specifically related to research animal dealers and large public zoos and aquariums was restored over the next several months, but the agency’s online inspection reports on pet breeders remains redacted. The USDA initially said the information would be available under the Freedom of Information Act, but the Humane Society said the information it received contained redactions.
In March, the Humane Society sued the USDA to get the information that had redacted, but the information has not yet been restored, the organization said. The lawsuit remains current.
Summers said a couple of states — California and Maryland — have banned puppy mills. Both states will ban pet stores from selling puppies and dogs unless they come from an animal shelter or rescue groups. Similar legislation is considered in Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Maine.
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“If the USDA continues backpedaling, more states will pass those laws and those breeders will not be able to sell their dogs at pet stores,” Summers said.
The Humane Society encourages people who want a puppy or dog to first visit an animal shelter or rescue group. If they prefer to buy from a breeder, they should visit the facilities in person to make sure the breeding dogs are living in humane conditions and, if they’re not, report it to law enforcement.
More information about how to get a puppy from a responsible breeder can be found here.
Photo: David Cairns/REX/Shutterstock
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