Pennsylvania’s legislature won much praise two years ago when it passed a ground-breaking law aimed at curtailing puppy mills. But bureaucrats are watering down some of the intentions of the new law, and animal-welfare activists are justifiably incensed.

 

Among other things, the new law doubled the minimum cage sizes used to house breeding dogs, barred the stacking of cages and outlawed wire flooring in cages for dogs that are more than 12 weeks old. Another key provision required that breeders give their dogs unfettered access to an outdoor exercise area at least twice the size of their cages. The chance to exercise outdoors would have made an enormous improvement in the lives of these dogs.

I describe the legislature’s accomplishment in detail in Saving Gracie: How one dog escaped the shadowy world of American puppy mills.

 

But earlier this month, the Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement decided breeders did not have to offer outdoor exercise areas after all. The bureau also decreed that breeding females could be kept on wire floor cages for a week before giving birth and for five or six more weeks after, until their puppies were weaned. That adds up to a third of the year for female dogs.

 

Being forced to stand on wire is painful and unnecessary, activists say: mother dogs clean up after their puppies on their own and don’t need to rely on wire cages, which would let urine and feces fall through.

 

In an excellent op-ed piece, Nancy Gardner, an animal lover and member of the Pennsylvania Dog Law Advisory Board, wrote: “Pennsylvania officials took it upon themselves to interpret the law contrary to its very specific wording. … Who gave the Department of Agriculture and the Burea of Dog Law Enforcement the right to blatantly ignore the language of the law so many fought so hard to pass?”

 

Read Gardner’s entire essay at http://www.publicopiniononline.com/opinion/ci_15572535

 

Gov. Ed Rendell needs to intervene on behalf of the dogs. Rendell wanted to reform the system, but if he lets the bureaucrats water it down, his legacy will be diluted along with it. That would be a shame, because the dogs deserve better.