MADISON . . . State Senator Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) announced today that she is working with her legislative colleagues to create a bill that would stop the terrible conditions at some puppy mills. A “puppy mill” is a high-volume dog breeding operation that keeps its puppies in poor conditions and produces sickly, ill-tempered dogs. Previous attempts to license and inspect large pet breeding kennels have fallen short of becoming law. A recent investigative report by a Milwaukee television station about terrible conditions at a Wisconsin puppy mill has generated dozens of constituent contacts to Senator Darling’s office.
“As a dog lover who owns two wonderful yellow labs, reports of the horrible conditions at some Wisconsin puppy mills just break my heart,” said Darling. “I’m working on legislation that will shut down cruel and unsanitary puppy mills without unnecessarily burdening responsible pet breeders.”
In the last several years, the legislature passed measures that would have created licensing requirements for pet breeders, standards regarding the humane care of pets and penalties for violating these requirements. These proposals were vetoed by the Governor under the rationale that they were too burdensome for pet breeders and the state did not have adequate resources to enforce new regulation and licensing standards.
Darling said she is committed to crafting a bill that addresses the reasons the puppy mill regulation bill has failed in the past. Darling is teaming up with Representative Tom Lothian (R-Williams Bay) and others who have worked on bills to stop cruel puppy mills in the past. The legislators are also studying puppy mill regulation in other states.
