Laws that are supposed to curb puppy mills aren’t being enforced properly, according to a new report.
Pennsylvania's independently elected fiscal watchdog says the state is doing a poor job enforcing an anti-puppy mill law designed to protect buyers and ensure breeders maintain humane practices.
Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said in an audit released this week that lax leadership and ineffective program administration have plagued the Dog Law Enforcement Office.
"Enforcement was so poor that there was little impact to alleviate puppy mill conditions," DePasquale said in a press release. "As a result of lax enforcement, people could be exposed to dangerous dogs, consumers could be emotionally and financially affected by sick dogs from puppy mills and the dogs themselves could be physically harmed by living in unhealthy conditions."
Former Gov. Ed Rendell signed the law in 2008 amid what critics described as inhumane puppy mills. The new rules pertain mostly to commercial kennels that provide dogs to dealers or pet shops, or that traffic in at least 60 dogs per year, in an effort to shed Pennsylvania's reputation as the puppy-mill capital of the East Coast.
But DePasquale said sales were not properly tracked from 2010 to 2012 to determine which kennels should be licensed as commercial ones. And guidelines were not promptly written for dog wardens until October 2012, and the office's money was spent on other, unrelated Department of Agriculture employees, he said.
The audit covered July 1, 2008, through June 30, 2012.
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In a response, the Department of Agriculture disagreed that money was used improperly and said it is already in the process of addressing the other concerns, including ensuring that commercial kennels were inspected at least twice a year in 2012, as required by the law. A reorganization process is resulting in cost savings and tightened administration, the department said.
Part of that reorganization involved the removal of Gov. Tom Corbett's first pick to lead the Dog Law Enforcement Office after the former bank manager and Republican activist was criticized for lacking experience with animal welfare issues.
