Missouri BBB Releases Report on state puppy industry - Puppy Mill initiative still doesn't solve identified problems

In Missouri statewide Better Business Bureau just released the results of their study about the Missouri Puppy Industry. Thirty percent of the federally licensed dog breeders in the US are located in Missouri, four times the number of the next highest state.  The BBB's take?  That the state needs to focus on better enforcement of current legislation. Their recommendations?

1) The US and Missouri Departments of Agriculture more aggressively pursue penalties against repeat offenders

2) Raise anual licensing fees for breeders & sellers -- which have remained the same for 17 years

3) Streamline the process for penalizing repeat offenders while still allowing due process

4) Consumers seeking a puppy should consider adopting a pet from a local shelter

The report also notes that the state has 1800 licenced dog breeders, plus animal shelters, pet stores, and intermediate handlers and dealers -- and with only 13 inspectors, the required annual inspections are not getting done.

The BBB's findings are very similar to what I posted a couple of months ago.  What is frustrating is that the problems in Missouri are very obvious and yet the new "Puppy Mill" initiative (read it in its entirety here) in Missouri is not addressing any of the issues: No change in licensing fees, no additional enforcement officers and nothing that allows the state to deal with habitual problems in an easier fashion.

Interestingly, the Humane Society of Missouri is who initially posted this article. HSMO is still sponsoring and supporting the "Puppy Mill Initiative" (with the help of HSUS, the ASPCA and others) even though it fails to address any of the issues that the BBB or the Missouri Vet Medical Association have pointed out as being the underlying problems.  Instead of passing new legislation for the sake of new legislation, we should be using the financial and time resources on solutions that will actually solve the problem....and the new proposed "Puppy Bill Initiative" is not the answer.

Comments

[Dan]

You may not think the puppy mill initiative is "the answer", and maybe it won't solve the problem in its entirity. But that is no reason to vote against it. It will do some good, and so I pray it passes.

[Brent]

Out of curiosity Dan, what good will it do? 90% of the rules are already on the books. The other 10% (which is mostly the 50 dog limit) has an easy loophole around it.

Word is that HSUS and others have half a million dollars in this already -- and it will likely cost several million dollars in advertising to get this to pass. Again, several million dollars that will be used to NOT solve the problem as everyone who has studied it has defined it - which is enforcement issues.

Meanwhile, what may be worse about it, is that if this passes, the only way to make changes is to take it BACK to the voters -- which will cost even more millions of dollars. So if at any point we want to create a demand for MORE kennel space than what the current initiative bill outlines, or if we realize the 50 dog limit isn't limiting large-scale operations because 3 people can go into business together and all own 50 dogs and have a 150 dog operation -- if we decide we want to change ANYTHING on the bill, it will then cost millions more to get it back on the ballot and passed again.

There are a lot of reasons to vote against it....and I'm struggling to find a reason to vote FOR it and I hate that we have, as a state, become a haven for the worst of the worst breeding operations.