After 5 years of pushing for a bill to regulate puppy mills in Minnesota, Mike Fry, the executive director of the Animal Ark, a no-kill animal welfare organization may finally get his wish.
A new bill has just been introduced in the Minnesota House in an attempt to regulate the state’s 300 puppy mills with conditions that can “cause you to have nightmares”.
Sounds horrific!
Backers of the bill say the state has become a magnet for the puppy mill industry because the state and federal law have loopholes the allow for animal abuse, as Fry explains:
“A breeder can have a USDA license but be violating Minnesota state cruelty laws and can continue operating.”
Representative John Benson, who introduced the bill, believes with a lack of USDA authority when it comes to the lack of care in these operations, this bill is long overdue and explains:
“There is a huge loophole in this whole process. We check to see of cattle breeders their animals are healthy, but apparently not our pets. I think it solves a big program, the growth of puppy mills in the northern part of the state.”
The bill would ask breeders to register and pay a small fee for each puppy sold, as well as name the Animal Board of Health as the regulating agency that conducts yearly inspections.
Mike Fry, whose animal welfare organization is licensed and inspected by the state while puppy mills are not, adds:
“We’re asking they come up to the minimum standards of Minnesota animal cruelty laws, and if they can’t comply with those, they shouldn’t be operating business is the state of Minnesota.”
Right on! It sounds like Minnesota really needs some puppy mill regulation and we’re crossing out fingers that this bill passes!
[Image via AP Images.]
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