New Chair of Senate Ag Means New Chance to Crack Down on Puppy Mills

One of the casualties of the Democrats' electoral shellacking earlier this month is Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), the current Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. With Lincoln out of a job, Senate leadership announced last week that her spot as Chairman will be taken over by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI).

Senate Ag (technically, the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry) is important to us, because a lot of animal-related legislation moves through it in its way to passage, and unfortunately, a lot of good bills have stalled out in that committee as well.

Take S. 3424, the PUPS Act, for example.

The PUPS Act (or "The Puppy Uniform Protection and Safety Act," if you're into official titles), is kind of a big deal as far as puppy mill legislation goes. What it does is close up a big loophole in the puppy mill industry — retail (direct-to-buyer) breeding, usually conducted over the internet.

Right now, breeders who sell more than 50 dogs a year to pet stores or brokers are inspected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. So-called "retail breeders" who sell dogs directly to the public are not. So, this bill closes the loophole, and holds everyone who sells more than 50 dogs a year, regardless of who they sell to, to a set of standards. The PUPS Act also requires all breeders to actually exercise their dogs, instead of forcing them to live 24-7 in cramped kennels.

The history of the move to regulate retail dog breeders is long and frustrating — grassroots activism stalled by congressional inaction. Meanwhile, irresponsible breeders are thriving on the internet and in the classified ads section of newspapers across the country.

The PUPS Act, sponsored by Dick Durbin (D-IL), is something that animal protection advocates, including the Humane Society of the United States, the ASPCA, and local groups, have been pushing for years.

As far back as 2001, Sen. Rick Santorum was pushing a similar bill to bring retail breeders into the regulatory fold, to no avail. That same year, the Doris Day Animal League took the USDA to court to force them to inspect retail breeders, but the Supreme Court took a pass on hearing the case. In 2005, Santorum brought up a new bill regulating retail breeders, backed by HSUS, which also failed. And, in 2008, Dick Durbin (D-IL) brought yet another bill out (the first to specifically mention internet sales), which stalled in committee.

So, is Debbie Stabenow going to be a more animal-friendly leader in the Senate than her predecessor? There's reason to be cautiously optimistic. Unlike Blanche Lincoln, Stabenow did support at least some pro-animal legislation, like upholding a ban on firearms in national parks (which helps park rangers control poaching), and authorizing the Obama administration to repeal some last-minute weakening to the Endangered Species Act by the outgoing Bush administration. She also signed on to a letter asking for more money to enforce the Animal Welfare Act and the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act.

If you take the Humane Society Legislative Fund's congressional scorecard (pdf) as a convenient yardstick, Stabenow's score of 50 is leaps and bounds ahead of Lincoln's dismal 0 score.

Now, Stabenow has a chance to prove that she's an animal-friendly leader, by moving the PUPS Act out of committee and helping make it into law. Animal activists, protection groups, and some of her colleagues have been fighting this battle for years. We need her on our side too. With the increased attention paid to puppy mills in states like Missouri, Oklahoma, and potentially Texas, this is the right time to finally pass this bill.

Photo credit: Nitevision