Puppy Mills Get the Green Light from Governor Schwarzenegger

Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.

Apparently the Governor of California thinks it’s okay to house hundreds of unsterilized dogs in conditions of abuse and neglect. He has vetoed an Anti-Puppy Mill Bill that would have limited California puppy mills to no more then 50 unsterilized dogs.

Four other states (Virginia, Oregon, Louisiana and Washington) already have laws in place regarding limits put on puppy mills and two other states (Massachusetts and New York) have limits pending.

It is well known within the animal welfare community that puppy mills (kitty and bird mills as well) do not put the health and welfare of their animals before their concern for profits. I have seen the victims of puppy mills being rescued by shelter organizations such as Best Friends and it would break your heart to see the damage and neglect these poor animals suffer in the name of profits.

I have also watched videos of puppy mills showing animals stacked in cages with no solid flooring so their feces drops down into the cage below them and their paws become terribly painful from having to stand on wire cage bottoms. Mange, worms and all manner of kennel diseases prevail in these conditions and how anybody could support the continuation of this practice is beyond me.

Governor Schwarzenegger claims this bill goes too far. Direct quote: “I am returning Assembly Bill 241 without my signature. This… measure simply goes too far in an attempt to address the serious problem of puppy mills. An arbitrary cap on the number of animals any entity can possess throughout the state will not end unlawful, inhumane breeding practices. Instead this measure has the potential to criminalize the lawful activities of reputable breeders, pet stores, kennels, and charitable organizations engaged in raising service and assistance dogs. For these reasons, I am unable to sign this bill.”

Be advised that under this bill, public shelters, rescues, humane societies would have all been exempt from this bill. (In my opinion, they should not have been exempt from having more then 50 unsterilized animals. Simply get the animals neutered or spayed and then there’d be no issue.) This bill would have gone a long way though in reducing the amount of animals subject to horrible conditions. It would have gone a long way to lightening the load on local rescues, law enforcement and animal control when these puppy mills are closed down and there are over 50 animals in need of shelter, veterinary service and placement. It would have gone a long way to reducing the amount of sick and diseased animals for sale in unscrupulous pet stores.

“Criminalize reputable breeders, pet stores, kennels and charitable organizations”? Certainly no reputable breeder would have more then 50 breed-able dogs because you simply don’t have the resources to care for them properly. Pet stores shouldn’t be selling any animals at all let alone have 50 breed-able animals in stock. Kennels and charitable organizations would have been exempt from this law so either Governor Schwarzenegger is stupid (and I’ve always thought he was actually) or somebody with money in the puppy mill business has greased the governor’s pocket.

I sure don’t like what has been happening to California since Schwarzenegger was elected Governor. First they quash the Gay Marriage bill and now they do the same to the Puppy Mills bill. I used to think California was one of the most forward thinking states in the union but not anymore. It has been a case of 1 step forward, 3 steps back for sure.

More on the Virginia Anti-Puppy Mill Law