Pennsylvania’s New State Law On Puppy Mills October 13, 2008
Last Thursday night Gov. Rendell signed into law a HB 2525, a bill designed to help fight the inhumane treatment of dogs bred in puppy mills. For anyone unfamiliar with the term puppy mill, click here for info.
The ASPCA notes that this law will eliminate the following practices:
Introduced in May, HB 2525 doubles the cage space required for dogs in Pennsylvania’s commercial breeding facilities, prohibits wire flooring and the stacking of cages, mandates exercise and twice-yearly veterinary exams for all dogs, and requires that animals be humanely euthanized by licensed veterinarians.
One of the biggest parts of the law (that requires animals be humanely euthanized by licensed vets) will go into effect immediately.
Pennsylvania is a huge puppy mill state. There are tons of them there, especially in Lanchester County. This is definitely big news to celebrate. But as with most bills, it’s imperfect. In order to be considered a puppy mill, they must sell at least 60 dogs per year to pet shops or wholesalers. So all those rinky dink, horrible, depressing, cruel mills that exist, that sell under 60 dogs per year, (there are a lot) aren’t touched by this bill. That’s the down side. The up side is of course, that hopefully it protects dogs bred in the large facilities.
It’s a big step, especially for a state like Pennsylvania.
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