Andrea Rosebrock 
The harder people fight again puppy mills the more money opponents throw into the pot and they can afford to with the profits they reap off the bodies of abused and neglected dogs. Now, with the increased awareness of puppy mill atrocities due to Oprah’s involvement, legislation has a better chance than ever to actually move forward.
PA Governor Rendell has drafted and redrafted legislation to try to stem some of the abuses in the “Puppy Mill Capital” of the US. He has been faced by opposition every step of the way but he still continues to try to make thing better.
Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell is preparing to introduce a bill that would change the way commercial dog breeders do business in the state. He’s doing it with a new round of support brought on by Oprah Winfrey and her recent probe of puppy mills.
In video from Main Line Animal Rescue, you can see dogs packed into rabbit cages. The animals walk gingerly on wire flooring and feces cover the ground below.
Smith turned to Oprah Winfrey to get help shutting down abusive puppy mills.”We put up a billboard in Chicago, four blocks from Harpo Studios to get Oprah Winfrey’s attention. We thought, and we were right, that she can reach more people than anyone on the planet,” he said.
Last month, Oprah had Smith on a show that focused on abusive Puppy Mills in Lancaster County. (CLICK HERE FOR MORE ON THE SHOW) The county is estimated to have the highest concentration of puppy mills in the country.
“After spending 9-10 years in a rabbit hutch, they’re led into a cornfield and shot. That’s the first time, in most of the cases, they’ve ever been let out of a cage,” said Smith.
“Sometimes it’s not the physical abuse they suffer, but the mental abuse,” said Governor Ed Rendell, who will announce a new bill next week that would double cage sizes, require solid flooring and 24-hour access to water.
The bill focuses on commercial breeders — those who transfer or sell more than 60 dogs a year.
In a letter to Oprah, the governor pleaded for her help.
“Some of these commercial breeders make two million dollars in profit. They can spend a couple hundred thousand dollars creating more humane conditions for these puppies,” Rendell explained.
“The great thing about Oprah Winfrey is she does reach out across lines. It’s amazing. A lot of the people who we didn’t think would support, now support it,” Smith added.
The governor believes with Oprah’s help the bill now has a better than 50/50 shot of passing.
We did contact the Pennsylvania Professional Dog Breeder’s Association. The group stands by the governor, but does not want laws so stringent that it drivers breeders out of business. (6ABC)
Yesterday Oprah was supposed to do a segment in support of the PA legislation but unfortunately ran out of time.
Uber talk-show host Oprah Winfrey, who was scheduled to make a pitch for tougher dog laws in Pennsylvania on yesterday’s show, ran out of time and couldn’t fit in the comments, a Winfrey spokesman said. She tentatively plans on addressing the issue later this month.
Winfrey was expected to read excerpts from a letter Gov. Rendell sent her last month seeking support for legislation he’s pushing to overhaul Pennsylvania’s dog law to prevent abuses in puppy mills. Rendell wrote the letter after Winfrey aired a segment highlighting abuses at commercial kennels in Lancaster County. (Philly.com)
Of course we would like to see puppy mills completely shut down but that’s not going to happen, at least not any time soon. There’s too much money involved and too many people getting a cut of the action to give up their share of the green. They don’t give a damn about the innocent abused and neglected dogs, for them they’re no more than a cash crop, easily replaced when they’re worn out. All they care about is putting as little in as possible and getting as much out as they can.
As for many legislators, they go with the green too. For many of them, those in opposition of the reform, their biggest supporters and of course contributors, are the big commercial breeders and breeding organizations. These organizations get mega bucks from breeders so do you think they care about how the money is made as long as it keep rolling in? Nope, not a chance!!
Bottom line is, as long as people keep buying puppies from pet stores and the internet and any place else that sells puppy mill puppies, puppy millers are going to keep on breeding and dogs are going to continue to be abused and neglected to keep pockets lined with the almighty buck made through their cruel suffering!
Thank you Governor Rendell!!