On Friday, December 20 - just in time for the holiday season, the State of Minnesota began working on gift for thousands of dogs and cats currently trapped in puppy mills in the state: The Puppy/Kitten Mill Cruelty Prevention Act. Unlike other failed attempts to regulate pet breeding in Minnesota, this bill will work to ensure large-scale breeders are in compliance with the all federal, State and local animal welfare and cruelty laws. Among the interesting provisions in the bill is a statement that will prevent anyone previously convicted of animal cruelty from owning a dog or cat breeding operation. Mike Fry, Executive Director of Animal Ark, the largest no kill animal welfare organization in Minnesota, says that one of the beauties of this new approach is that it makes effective use of existing animal cruelty laws and law enforcement structures. He believes that if the bill becomes law, this will make it easier to enforce than previous bills. Additionally, several small breeders have contributed to the development of the Puppy/Kitten Mill Cruelty Prevention Act, helping to ensure there will be no unintended consequences for smaller, responsible breeders. The first draft of the official bill language is due the first week in January.

Related Links: Animal Ark's Puppy Mill Resource Center Ask Your Senator and Representative to Support the Puppy and Kitten Mill Cruelty Prevention Act Donate to Help

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Comments from readers:

On 01/10/2009 Mike Fry said: "Small Breeders" Hello Jean, Excellent questions! The proposed bill does not include a definition of a small breeder, since it does not propose regulating small breeders. It does define what a large, commercial breeder would be considered for the purpose of the bill. A large-scale, commercial breeder would be a breeder with 40 or more animals of adult breeding age, who is in the business of breeding animals. What I consider to be a small breeder in my comments on the web site would be breeders that have significantly fewer dogs than that. In fact, I would suggest that most people would believe that people with as few as 25 animals may not qualify for their definition of "small" either. There are, however, breeders in that range that are primarily working to preserve rare or endangered dog breeds. The Puppy and Kitten Mill Cruelty Prevention Act is designed to target enforcement resources to help the state deal with the largest commercial breeders, and, therefore, the cut off in this bill was set to 40 adult breeding animals, based on input from many sources. When you consider that Minnesota has commercial breeders with 200 - 1,000 + breeding animals, it is easy to see why many people believe the number 40 to be quite low. And, naturally, there are extremists on the other side of that equation who want the state to regulate virtually all breeders.

On 01/09/2009 Jean said: Small Breeders I am curious as to what the parameters are to be considered a small breeder. What are the animal limits?

On 12/23/2008 Tom Klaila said: Puppy Mills Suck Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I am one of those small breeders who has been unable to support past bills. This one sounds like something I can finally get excited about.

On 12/22/2008 Mike Fry said: Thanks Patricia Thank you, Patricia, You are right. There are small, responsible breeders in Minnesota. The failure of authors of past bills to account for the perspective of these breeders has largely been the cause of the failures. Animal Ark is very proud of the work we have put into this bill. Even more, we are happy to have seen such a broad and diverse group of people come together to provide input into it. Regarding Kathy Bauck: I believe some of the information you have may not be exactly correct. A judge is planning to rule on whether or not the video evidence collected by the Companion Animal Protection Society (CAPS) will be allowed in court. The ruling has not yet come forward, and is not expected to until early January. It is worth pointing out that there is more evidence against Bauck than the video evidence collected by CAPS. It is also worth noting that there is the potential for new charges against Bauck, and her family or employees based on other evidence.

On 12/21/2008 patricia said: Legislation Mike Fry, Thank you all for continueing to work on Puppy Mill cruelty prevention. Watching similar legislation fail in the past years has been disheartening but your perseverence is great. I believe I heard on approx 12-19-08 that the videos showing Kathy Bauck will not be allowed in court, seems like there is no consequences for such cruel, inhumane behavior. These mills and the greedy abusive owners need to be closed. Private professional breeders, involved in limited selective breeding to produce high quality, healthy and genetically sound animals that are raised with the breeder and family is the best way for an animal to start his life. The puppies should be sold to selected owners that will care for all the animals needs for the rest of his life. Again, thanks for persueing this important legislation.