Monday, March 1, 2010

OK: It’s long past the time to address mill problem

Lawmakers kept a tight leash last year on a bill that sought to regulate puppy mills. Pet lovers in Oklahoma  should hope a renewed effort to enact change is successful this session.

Senate Bill 1712 by Sen. Patrick Anderson, R-Enid, is among the bills being considered by the Legislature. It would regulate as professional occupations those commercial breeders who have 11 or more female dogs or cats being used for breeding. Last year’s bill, which failed to get out of a Senate committee, targeted people who sold at least 35 dogs or cats in a year, and sought to establish minimum standards for housing and breeding animals.

That measure was widely opposed by breeders and this one likely will be, too. But something needs to be done to combat the flow of sickly animals sold each year, and to reduce the number of surplus dogs — about 60,000 annually — and cats that wind up having to be euthanized in shelters.

Oklahoma presently has no minimum state standards for such breeding operations and is the No. 2 dog-producing state in the nation, behind Missouri. Proponents of this bill fear that if Missouri voters approve regulations later this year via referendum, it will only serve to drive more puppy mill operators in our direction.

Opponents of Anderson’s bill — indeed, of most any effort to put some rules on the books — say regulations only wind up punishing reputable breeders. A comment from a breeder interviewed by The Oklahoman’s Vallery Brown is an example: "I think the bad breeders need to be stopped, but how do you do that without stopping the good ones?” In other words, butt out.

Anderson’s bill would, among other things, establish a board to set the regulations and fees for commercial breeders. Perhaps revenue from those fees could be used to help crack down on the sorts of operations that all too frequently in Oklahoma make news for the wrong reasons — puppies and kittens malnourished and sick after being found in cramped, filthy quarters.

The bill would make breeders subject to annual inspection, and would require them to provide the board with health records of their animals each year. Shouldn’t reputable breeders welcome efforts to put such standards in place?

Some have argued through the years that private property rights would be violated. But hair dressers who work out of their home are regulated by the state. So too are day care operators. Why not dog and cat breeders?

Kitten and puppy mills have been a problem in Oklahoma for decades. It’s past time for lawmakers to take steps to change that, and SB 1712 provides one opportunity.

Read more: http://newsok.com/its-long-past-the-time-to-address-mill-problem/article/3442944#ixzz0gv3keBkJ

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