By Stu Bykofsky
Philadelphia Daily News
Daily News Columnist
After a couple of decades of struggling to improve disgusting and inhumane conditions in Pennsylvania kennels, the good guys finally won last fall. Gov. Rendell happily signed Act 119 into law, which made modest improvements to the miserable health and welfare "standards" permitted under existing dog law.
About four months later, having lost their battle in the court of public opinion and the Legislature, commercial dog breeders - some of them little better than torturers - sued the state in U.S. District Court to overturn the new rules mandating veterinary care, solid flooring in cages and more cage space than a mail box.
Specifically, when the Professional Dog Abusers Advisory Council sued state Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff, they made a federal case out of it.
(Editor's note: The actual name is the Professional Dog Breeders Advisory Council.)
In a 51-page filing, the Breeders Advisory Council, represented by the Lancaster law firm of Clymer & Musser, discharged a load of buckshot.
I asked attorney Leonard Brown III to select the two or three most salient points.
The law's alleged unequal treatment of private and commercial kennels, he said, lack of due process in awarding and suspending licenses and "warrantless inspections not supported by probable cause."
The state Attorney General's Office declined comment, as did defendant Wolff, but who made available Jessie Smith, the special deputy secretary for Dog Law Enforcement.
She also declined comment, but I asked her hypothetically, about warrantless inspections, by what right do dog wardens make unannounced inspections?
"Kennels are licensed and a dog warden is going in just like a restaurant inspector to make sure it is complying with state regulation," she said, adding they can only inspect the kennels, they can't go nosing around the breeder's home.
A coalition of animal groups, led by the Humane Society of the United States, has filed friend of the court briefs in support of the law. U.S. District Court Judge Sylvia Rambo has yet to set a court date.
I wanted to know what matters the Professional Dog Abusers Advisory Council, formed in late 2007, advises the Pennsylvania Professional Dog Abusers Association about, but messages left for Pennsylvania Professional Dog Breeders Association (PPDBA) lobbyist Ken Brandt were not returned.
Might the matters include keeping dogs locked in undersized, filthy, wire-bottom cages for their entire lives? Absence of heat in the winter and shade in the summer? Denying dogs access to water and veterinary care? Or maybe practices such as getting rid of dogs by shooting them or "debarking" them to keep them quiet by jamming a PVC tube down their throats to destroy their vocal cords? All that was legal - and happened - under the old law.
The PPDBA Web site talks a lot about the breeders' rights. Not so prominent is the dogs' welfare.
Before I go too far down this road, some members of the PPDBA care for their animals, breed them carefully, raise them humanely, sell them only to good homes.
Problem is, while 300 breeders are members of the PPDBA, some 2,500 state-licensed kennels are not. Who knows what's on their minds?
To many mass breeders - and they are numerous because 890,061 dogs were imprisoned in Pennsylvania kennels last year - innocent puppies are a commodity, requiring no more care than summer squash. Their mothers were treated even worse. Until the law was upgraded, pet profiteers lawfully imprisoned mother dogs for their entire lives in tiny wire cages. They were production units, nothing more.
If you want to see what some loathsome "breeders" do, Animal Planet is premiering a one-hour documentary, "Puppy Mills: Exposed," tonight at 10.
The first part deals with Pennsylvania, condemned as the "puppy mill capital of the East." The rest of the show focuses on Tennessee and Miami, where conditions are even more appalling.
The revolting abuses - multiple dogs stuffed into a cage, dogs with serious birth defects, dead puppies in cages, feces in food dishes - are not the worst I've reported on. It will impact anyone who's ever shared a life with a dog, and should sicken anyone with a heart and a conscience.
Act 119 intended to reduce the cycle of abuse, neglect and extreme misery.
So now Pennsylvania kennel dogs' fate is in the hands of a judge named Rambo. I hope her read of the Constitution is less "Judge Dredd" and more "Rocky," and that justice will comfort the underdog and protect the voiceless. *
http://www.philly.com/dailynews/columnists/stu_bykofsky/20090427_Stu_Byk...
Puma
Sorry that this is columnist and not unbiased news but this really touched me when I read it so I thought I'd share.
1It's disgusting what people do to make a buck. Dog breeding is an expensive "business", and the true reputable breeders do it for the love of the breed, more than the money they make. Unfortunately, there are people that will cut whatever corners necessary in order to make a profit. It astounds me that people think it's acceptable deny basic animal rights like "mandating veterinary care, solid flooring in cages and more cage space than a mail box."
2I think this is important to share. I thought things were better for some reason, because of all the bad publicity puppy mills have gotten - obviously, that's not true and there's much more that needs to be done.
3Unfortunately steph, that isn't the case. There isn't enough done for animal rights or against animal abusers. Maybe someday we'll have stricter laws on both in this country.
4I'm glad they are taking these steps. Some of the documentaries on puppy mills are so anger iducing. How would those breeders like it if they were treated in the manner they treat those dogs?
5*inducing
6I hope one day the laws will be stricter and I'm thankful that there are people like you guys in the world who care about animal welfare.
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