COLUMBUS – Ohio is second only to Missouri in the number of high-volume “puppy mills” in the nation, according to a new report from the Humane Society of the United States.
Ten Ohio dog breeders are named in the sixth annual “Horrible Hundred” report examining problem puppy mills and dog sellers around the nation.
Puppy mills are large commercial breeding operations that offer puppies for sale to individual owners or supply them to pet stores. They tend to emphasize quantity over quality and the Humane Society’s Kathleen Summers says the organization some horrific conditions at the Ohio facilities on the list.
“We found breeders that had injured dogs, dogs that hadn’t received proper medical care which could result in selling sick puppies to the public. Dogs just kept in dangerous and filthy conditions and it’s just not acceptable,” she said.
Missouri has the largest number of puppy mills with 23, followed by Ohio, Iowa and Pennsylvania.
About one in three facilities listed in the report appeared in at least one past report and have since been found with additional violations or issues. Summers notes the report does not list every puppy mill or even the worst of the worst, but is instead a snapshot of the scope of the problem.
It’s the United States Department of Agriculture’s responsibility to inspect puppy mills, and Summers contends the agency has slipped on enforcement. And she notes redactions on USDA reports are now hiding the names of the breeding facilities.
“Even though our tax dollars as citizens are being used to inspect the facilities, USDA is hiding the names of these violators,” she said. “So your average person who does want to buy a puppy and wants to do their homework first can’t even ensure that they’re not buying from people on our list.”
Republican lawmakers are working on a bill that would beef up oversight of high-volume breeders and a grassroots organization has until June 24 to gather enough petition signatures to have a constitutional amendment addressing breeding conditions place on the ballot in November, the Dayton Daily News reported.
Lawmakers approved a puppy mill law in 2012 that subjected large-scale breeders to new licensing and inspection rules but animal welfare advocates say it contained loopholes and weak enforcement penalties, according to a report in The Columbus Dispatch.