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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State
Rep. James E. Casorio, Jr. |
  
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West Virginia puppy mill case offers lessons for Pa. legislators, consumers
HARRISBURG, Aug. 27 – State Rep. James E. Casorio Jr., D-Westmoreland, said the difficulty animal rescue groups will have in finding homes for more than 900 dogs rescued from a West Virginia puppy mill over the weekend is yet another reminder why Pennsylvania lawmakers should pass legislation that would significantly bolster the state's ability to shut down similar puppy mills in this state.
According to a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article on the weekend raid, rescue groups said finding homes for the 927 dachshunds that were rescued from the Internet-based breeding facility in West Virginia may take several months because of the dogs' breed, the fact that they are unfamiliar with and frightened of humans, and because of the physical problems some of them have. Many of them may not be able to be placed at all.
"In this case, the kennel owners simply had too many dogs to take care of properly," Casorio said. "The dogs were kept in small, wire-mesh cages in eight different buildings on the property, and one of the sheriff's deputies involved in the raid described the odor at the facility as 'horrendous.' The fact that the kennel was raided because the EPA found evidence of fecal matter in surrounding bodies of water indicates that the conditions these dogs lived in must have been completely unsanitary."
Casorio said that means people, pet shops and other groups that purchased dogs from the kennel risked obtaining animals that were not only "snappy," "not friendly," and "scared to death of everything," as one rescuer involved in the raid put it, but also potentially diseased.
"Unfortunately, we've seen evidence over the past several weeks that similar conditions, or worse, continue to exist at large commercial kennels in Pennsylvania. Under the state's current law, many of these conditions are completely legal, and the ones that are not are hard to document and punish. The current law makes it extremely difficult to protect dogs and consumers from the irresponsible owners of these large breeding facilities."
Casorio is sponsoring legislation (H.B. 2525) in the state House of Representatives that would improve standards for the care, safety and sanitation of dogs in large, commercial breeding kennels in Pennsylvania. The bill has nearly 100 Democratic and Republican co-sponsors in the House, and was approved by the House Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee in June. A full vote in the House was blocked in July, however, when a handful of Republican legislators filed scores of last-minute amendments to the bill.
"Every time one of these incidents happens in Pennsylvania or other states with a puppy mill problem, the people that have to rescue the dogs and find homes for them talk about how difficult it is to shut these operations down," Casorio said.
"My legislation would make it much easier to do that in Pennsylvania without impacting smaller kennels, sporting dog groups and individual dog owners. Passing my legislation would not only spare the suffering and destruction of thousands of dogs, but also protect consumers who unwittingly purchase the damaged dogs bred in these kennels."
Casorio said residents in Pennsylvania can help address the state's puppy mill problem by only adopting dogs from humane agencies and rescue shelters. Casorio also advocates contacting state representatives and senators to urge passage of H.B. 2525 when the legislature returns to session in a little over two weeks.
More information about H.B. 2525 is available at www.agriculture.state.pa.us/doglawaction.
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