What the Bureau of Dog Law can do today to help.
Why doesn't our current system of monitoring kennels and breeding facilities work? Because the first response from the Bureau of Dog Law in Harrisburg is always "we can't" instead of "let's do everything we can to help these dogs."
In Pennsylvania, the Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement oversees the inspection of our state's notorious puppy mills. The Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement is controlled by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. The Department of Agriculture's primary role is to promote agriculture in the Commonwealth. How then can one of their agencies (the Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement) effectively prosecute farmers for breeding dogs under inhumane conditions if they are required to be "farmer friendly." It is a clear conflict. Tragically, dogs are considered agricultural products in Pennsylvania. And wardens, ever mindful of the power of Pennsylvania's farmer/commercial dog breeder, are reluctant to go up against them, even when their dogs are clearly suffering. Moving the Bureau of Dog Law out from under the Department of Agriculture would be a solution, but that's not likely to happen anytime soon.
- We have only one active dog warden (kennel inspector) in Lancaster County. Even though, Lancaster County has the highest concentration of puppy mills of any county in the United States. And his performance has been routinely criticized by the press and animal welfare organizations alike.
- For years, MLAR has urged the Bureau to equip their inspectors with thermometers to measure temperature extremes inside our state's commercial breeding facilities. After four years, their wardens (inspectors) still do not have thermometers. Recently, during one routine inspection, wardens actually attempted to photograph their breathe to prove that the temperature inside one puppy mill was below freezing.
- With over fourteen million dollars in their coffers, the Bureau of Dog Law (a division of Pennsylvania's Department of Agriculture) refuses to hire veterinarians to accompany wardens on inspections of our more problematic kennels. In spite of the fact that rescue organizations pull seriously ill and injured dogs from these places almost on a daily basis. The majority of dogs in our state's puppy mills never see a veterinarian, and the Department could easily afford to hire a team of independent vets to examine breeding dogs while wardens inspect their living quarters.
- A handful of state wardens have actually told commercial breeders not to give rescues their retired breeding dogs or dogs in need of urgent medical care. Embarrassed by the fact that rescues are witnesses to the poor jobs they continue to do, these wardens have actually told breeders not to give or show rescues their dogs. They know if we are given sick dogs, dogs overlooked by these wardens during their last inspections, it will make them look bad.
- A state kennel license is required for kennels selling more than 26 dogs a year. A farmer/breeder can have 22 pregnant dogs standing in rabbit hutches, have an established relationship with a dealer, or sell his puppies to pet stores, and in the eyes of the Bureau, he doesn't need a license because he has less than 26 dogs on his property. Obviously a commercial breeder, this man is not keeping these dogs as pets! But the Bureau will do nothing about this breeder or the thousands like him.
- The Bureau of Dog Law routinely overlooks kennel violations, fails to follow up on problematic kennels, and has admitted that in some cases, certain kennels have actually been exempted from our current laws. It has also been clear that in the past year and a half, the Bureau has targeted rescue organizations transporting dogs from high-kill shelters in the South to Pennsylvania in order to find homes.
We urge the Governor (whom we know to be a true and sincere dog lover having adopted several Golden Retrievers from rescue) to appoint a special board to review and change the enforcement policies of the Bureau. The welfare of the dogs should be the Bureau's first and only priority.