There were a great many important voting results from around the country being reported last night but, for me, none was more important than the result of Proposition B, the puppy mill legislation proposed on the ballot in Missouri. The historic passage of Prop B was undoubtedly a landmark achievement for the humane treatment of our beloved companion animals. Prop B, known as the Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act, has established enforceable standards for large-scale dog breeding facilities in the state of Missouri. It will require that they provide significantly increased cage space, solid flooring, adequate veterinary care, nutritious food, clean drinking water, and protection from the elements. Any of us who love animals regard these things as minimal. However, given the unspeakably poor conditions that have persisted in the vast number of puppy mills throughout Missouri, this legislation is a major step in the right direction in a state that has been the biggest offender with regard to the brutal puppy mill industry.
Thirty percent of the puppy mills in the U.S. are located in Missouri, and the state is the leading source of puppies in this country where millions still die each year for the lack of a home. Missouri puppy mills have been producing a staggering one million puppies annually. Both the Humane Society of the United States and the ASPCA put a great deal of time, resources and effort into achieving the passage of Prop B and, for that, I am deeply grateful to them.
While not as big a player in the shameful puppy mill industry as Missouri, Virginia does not lag far behind. Our state is home to a large number of these sites of misery and our Virginia General Assembly has steadfastly refused to impose any but the most rudimentary and ineffectual regulations on the morally bankrupt brutes who operate them. At the Richmond SPCA, we have seen with our own eyes the dreadful condition, both physical and emotional, of puppy mill dogs when we have saved large numbers of them in puppy mill busts in the Mid-Atlantic. Let us hope that the step in the right and compassionate direction that was taken by the people of Missouri yesterday with the passage of Prop B functions as a harbinger of change for all the rest of the country. Let us hope that our own state and its legislators take notice and follow suit. We can make certain that they do so by educating them about Prop B and demanding that they take similar, or even more aggressive, steps in Virginia to protect our beloved companions from the horrors of puppy mills.
Robin Robertson Starr is the chief executive officer for the Richmond SPCA. To read her biography, or that of our other bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.
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