Could Puppy Mill Puppies Increase In Michigan?
There has been quite a bit of legislation flying through Lansing during this lame duck session or what I hear is called job application time in Lansing.
Well two of these bills are causing some controversy, those are House Bills 5916 and 5917. These bills have provisions that would prevent a county, city, village or township from banning pet shops.
The Detroit Free Press is reporting on these bills with the supervisor of the Humane Society of Huron Valley animal cruelty and rescue department Melinda Szabelski stating:
It’s our position, the Humane Society of Huron Valley, that it would be stripping local law enforcement of any type of regulation, investigation or inspection (power)
Officials from the Humane Society for the United States believes these bills give Michigan consumers:
the false sense that pet stores are regulated in Michigan, when in reality the provisions that appear to regulate pet stores are weak and unenforceable...The pet-loving population of Michigan cannot be represented by policies that protect cruel puppy mills and their pet store sales outlets...Puppy-selling pet stores pose a number of problems for communities, and the local elected officials representing those communities must retain the right to address them.
The Sponsor of these bills is a retired veterinarian, State Representative Hank Vaupel, Republican form Fowlerville, he believes these proposals would actually tighten the existing pet shop regulations. He believes this because they would require “puppies to be microchipped and prohibit pet shops from buying them from large-scale breeders that are not licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture”. He was quoted in the article stating:
This ... makes it so it is virtually impossible for them to get them from a puppy mill
If these pet shops can only buy their puppies from large scale breeders licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture then why are these Humane Societies worried that more puppy mill puppies will be sold in Michigan?
In fact the president of the Michigan Association for Pure Bred Dogs, Bob Darden told the Detroit Free Press that he supports the bills. He supports these bills because the animal rescues and private breeders cannot meet Michigan consumers' demand for dogs. He was quoted in the article saying:
We all should be looking at ways to increase the options, not decrease the options, that potential dog owners in Michigan have in selecting their dog
Do you believe that these bills will improve regulation of our pet shops here in Michigan or not. Also are you concerned that there can be an increase or puppies sold in theses pet shops coming from puppy mills?
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