by Pat Gray

Created on: February 04, 2009

We all know that puppy mills are bad things, run by villains keeping overly-bred females in deplorable conditions and selling inferior puppies.

However, most people don't concern themselves, because it happens elsewhere, it isn't a major problem or "someone" would do "something", and certainly, that cute puppy in the pet store or on that beautifully done website COULDN'T have been raised in such a place. And there must be laws - isn't it regulated by "somebody"?

Well think again - it may be your puppy, it may be happening in your state, and it may be happening next door. And there are too few "somebodies" are doing too little to make a real difference.

- The Legalities

Large-scale breeders exist in 46 of the 50 states. These are classified as "Class A" breeders - licensed and subject to inspection unless they have three or fewer breeding females or if they sell directly to the public. There were an estimated 4,117 licensed Class A breeders in the US - but it was estimated that in Missouri alone (Missouri accounted for 1,358 or 33% of the total) there were approximately 1,000 UNLICENSED facilities.

There are also "Class B" licenses issued to distributors - people who resell animals. Retail pet stores are exempt, unless they also sell "dangerous" pets. There are 1,176 Class B brokers in 47 states. These puppy-brokers also sell animals to laboratories (usually older animals from animal control facilities, something called "pound seizure") and they ship puppies outside the United States.

(The USDA does inspect pet stores, under different legislation and regulations.)

Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa and Arkansas account for the vast majority of licensed facilities - 72% or a total of 2963 LICENSED large scale breeding facilities.

The license fee runs from $30 per year to $130 per year, depending on the proceeds from the total sale of animals. An operation can sell up to $10,000 worth of dogs for a fee of $130 per year.

- Checks and Balances

The US Department of Agriculture and state agriculture departments are tasked with regulating and inspecting Class A and B facilities, but with the best will in the world, inspectors are fighting an uphill battle. Even when facilities are inspected, things fall through the cracks, as illustrated by a report on the inspections in puppy mills in Missouri.

In 2004 the Missouri Department of Agriculture released a report on problems with the MDA's inspection procedures, which had been audited in 2001. A few of the lingering problems included:

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