'Horrible Hundred' Puppy Mills: Pennsylvania Tied For Second On Humane Society List

It’s a dubious distinction for Pennsylvania. In a recent Humane Society of the United State’s “Horrible Hundred” list of problematic puppy mills, the Keystone State was tied for second with 12 of a dozen of the large-scale dog breeding operations.

Missouri topped the list for the fifth year in a row with 19 operations the Humane Society considers objectionable. Pennsylvania, Kansas and Ohio each had a dozen.

Puppy mills often supply retail and online stores with dogs, many raised in cramped, squalid conditions, deprived of approved veterinary care, and subjected to abuse and neglect, the Humane Society said in the report.

Problems in the Pennsylvania puppy mills cited in the report included puppies being emaciated, not being properly vaccinated, experiencing eye and skin troubles, living in conditions with excessive feces, being exposed to harsh weather conditions and being kept in an unlit area.

In one of the Missouri operations, 53 puppies died after they were left on a cargo truck with a space heater running, and a veterinarian wasn’t contacted until eight hours after the dogs showed signs of distress.

Moving forward, the HSUS says keeping tabs on puppy mills is made more difficult by the Trump administration’s removal of animal welfare inspection reports and most enforcement records from the U.S. Department of Agriculture website. Some reports on research facilities had been restored by April 20, but almost no records on pet breeding operations were restored, HSUS said.

HSUS said it had to rely on state inspection records in those states that inspect puppy mills or from USDA records that were preserved before the agency’s website was scrubbed. Court records, consumer complaints, investigator visits and media reports were also used in the compilation of the “Horrible Hundred.”

Written by Beth Dalbey, Patch staff.

Photo by David Fisher via Creative Commons.