Newport Beach Puppy Mill cruelty : Joel Freedman: N.Y. puppy mills need tougher scrutiny
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MPNnow.com —
Eight years ago, the vice president of the Humane Society of Yates County visited a breeding facility in the county where 60 small-breed dogs were packed together, four to five dogs per cage, “in a cold, filthy barn. The cages were so small that the dogs’ heads were hitting the wire on the cage top. Dogs who would normally have white fur were dark brown, stained with feces and urine. There were two dogs that had eye infections that caused their eyes to be sealed shut. The dogs’ nails were so long that they curled around like tiny hooks and were growing into the pads of their feet. The dogs were shivering in the cold. The dogs stood on wire that was caked with fecal matter. They had no bedding.”
I learned such deplorable conditions were commonplace in New York and Pennsylvania. I also learned puppy mill owners “debarked” noisy dogs by shoving tubes down their throats to sever the vocal chords, chopped off the tails of certain breeds and performed cesarean sections — all without veterinarians or anesthesia. Breeders killed unsold dogs in whatever cruel manner they saw fit.
In Pennsylvania, under the leadership of then-Gov. Ed Rendell, some puppy mill owners were convicted of animal cruelty. (In Yates County, sometimes dubbed “the puppy mill capital of New York,” there have been no such arrests or prosecutions.)
In 2008, Rendell signed into law measures that doubled floor space, eliminated wire flooring, and required unfettered access to exercise areas at least twice the size of the dog’s enclosure. Dogs in breeding facilities must be examined twice yearly by veterinarians. Veterinarians and only veterinarians are permitted to euthanize dogs. A Canine Health Board approved new standards governing temperature, humidity, ammonia levels and lighting.
Another new law banned tail docking, debarking and cesarean sections on dogs unless performed under anesthesia by veterinarians.
“Saving Gracie: How One Dog Escaped the Shadowy World of American’s Puppy Mills,” by Carol Bradley, describes progress in Pennsylvania and several other states. Bradley writes, “Breeders unwilling to abide by Pennsylvania’s tougher scrutiny had begun moving to the Finger Lakes Region of New York state where they could buy cheap farmland and resume business under much more lax regulation.”
When Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb met in January with constituents at Canandaigua’s Eatertainment restaurant, I shared all this information with him.
While Kolb’s subsequent review of pertinent bills has not convinced him to support all the bills I support, I am proud of Kolb for signing on as a sponsor of four Assembly bills (2122-B, 3431-A, 5246 and 8146) that would require more comfortable housing and flooring, proper temperature ranges, and other basic standards of canine care; prohibit surgical devocalization unless performed by veterinarians for medically necessary reasons; and provide better oversight of animal breeders.
At a Westchester County breeding facility, 16 dogs died on Nov. 2 when their unsafe, overcrowded backyard shed burned down — another sad reminder about the need to protect all victimized dogs who suffer in New York’s largely ignored breeding facilities.
Assembly members Joan Millman, Kenneth Zebrowski, Matthew Titone and Dr. Steve Katz, who is a veterinarian as well as a legislator, introduced the above mentioned bills. They are pleased to have Kolb’s support.
They will also need bipartisan support from many other legislators, including committee chairpersons, in both the Assembly and state Senate.
Let’s hope 2012 will be the year these bills become laws.
Joel Freedman, of Canandaigua, a frequent Messenger Post contributor, chairs the public education committee of Animal Rights Advocates of Upstate New York.
