‘Mutts’ comic strip characters helped pass a law to regulate dog breeders

One of neglected dogs removed from a Missouri breeder by authorities and The Humane Society of the United States / Photo: HSUS video

By Katerina Lorenzatos Makris

Some of the most powerful opponents of commercial dog breeders—nemeses fierce enough to help pass a law that would have mandated welfare standards for dogs used in “puppy mills”—those enemies apparently were, well… imaginary, according to the Missouri Farm Bureau.

Creator Patrick McDonnell employed his imagination, in the form of characters Earl, Woofie and friends in his popular comic strip Mutts to speak up for Missouri’s Prop B, the “Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act.” Continue reading

‘These guys are good—we don’t like them, but they are good at what they do’: farm bureau about Humane Society

Animal welfare groups say Missouri’s large-scale commercial breeders often severely neglect the tens of thousands of dogs used to create about a million puppies per year to be sold in pet stores / Photo: HSUS video (not necessarily in Missouri)

By Katerina Lorenzatos Makris

“The emotion of the puppy, man’s best friend. How do you not want to protect these little innocent puppies?” asked Missouri Farm Bureau’s Kelly Smith in a speech to commercial dog breeders and other farmed animal producers. “That was very hard. And that was something that the rest of animal agriculture had to learn and deal with. It was very, very hard to do.”

The protection to which Smith referred might have been provided by a Missouri law, Prop B, the “Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act,” proposed in 2010 by The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and other animal welfare groups, who said it would improve the lives of the tens of thousands of dogs—many severely neglected and ill—who are used to create about a million puppies annually in the state’s 1,000-plus commercial breeding establishments.

But the state’s dog breeders and farmers believed it was a law against which they needed to protect themselves, said Smith, the farm bureau’s marketing and commodities director. Continue reading

Law would have required better care for dogs than for children, says farm bureau

Animal protection groups say large-scale commercial breeders neglect and abuse dogs / Photo: The Humane Society of the United States video (photo not necessarily from Missouri)

By Katerina Lorenzatos Makris

While in the past few years the Missouri Department of Agriculture has seized 5,500 dogs from neglectful commercial breeders, a representative of the state’s farm bureau said that not only is more regulation unnecessary, but that a 2010 law proposed to improve conditions for the animals would have set an anti-farming precedent and in some ways would have required that breeders take better care of dogs than of children. Continue reading

More than 5,500 dogs seized from Missouri breeders since start of ‘Operation Bark Alert’

Raid on a commercial dog breeder (not necessarily in Missouri) / Photo: HSUS video

By Katerina Lorenzatos Makris

The fact that the Missouri Department of Agriculture has confiscated thousands of dogs from neglectful commercial dog breeders in the past few years is proof that its oversight of the “highly regulated industry” is working, said a representative of the state’s farm bureau.

Kelly Smith, Marketing and Commodities Director of the Missouri Farm Bureau, told attendees at last year’s Animal Agriculture Alliance Summit that animal activists who came to the state in 2010 to push for a law to control “puppy mills,” or large-scale commercial breeders, deliberately did not mention what he described as an already-existing successful system to ensure animal welfare.

According to the Missouri Department of Agriculture’s website, since the launch of Operation Bark Alert in 2009, “more than 5,500 dogs have been rescued in Missouri [from unlicensed dog breeders].” Continue reading

Missouri breeds 30% of puppies sold in U.S. pet stores, says farm bureau

Featured

Animal welfare groups allege that dogs are neglected and abused by Missouri’s large-scale commercial dog breeders / Photo: Yes on Prop B

By Katerina Lorenzatos Makris ~

“Puppy mill capital of America,” is what The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) calls Missouri.

It was on that battleground last year that mega-group HSUS along with other animal welfare organizations lost their war to establish a law that they say would have improved the lives of the tens of thousands of dogs used to produce about a million puppies annually in the state’s 1,000-plus commercial breeding establishments.

Prop B, the Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act, was actually passed by 51.6 percent of Missouri voters. However, to the satisfaction of dog breeding and farming lobbies and the outrage of animal activists, Gov. Jay Nixon overturned and replaced it with a different law that many call a severely gutted version of the one that voters had approved. Continue reading