CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — A team of individuals focusing on the humane treatment of animals is road-tripping across the state for one purpose: convince County Commissions to adopt legally-required fees and regulation on potential “puppy mills” in their counties.
S.B. 347, passed in 2013, requires that all potential dog breeders have a business license, pay a fee of no more than $250 per year, and are properly inspected twice per year.
But there is no specific timetable for the adoption of these fees, which is where Chris Brosan, Elizabeth Keough, and Theresa Bruner come in.
“What we want to make sure is [that County Commissions] don’t wait to enact this,” said Theresa Bruner, a Board Member of the Federation of Humane Organizations of West Virginia. “Because we want to make sure that unscrupulous breeders don’t come in [to West Virginia].”
They’ve already made presentations to the County Commissions in Monongalia, Jackson, and Harrison counties. Of those three, Monongalia and Jackson County Commission’s adopted the fees. Next week, Bruner will be in Randolph County to make the same argument.
Chris Brosan, the Policy Implementation Coordinator for the Humane Society’s Puppy Mills Campaign, said that County Commission’s shouldn’t wait any longer on adopting the fees.
“To have something like this in place is going to prevent these 1000 animal facilities that are deplorable–animals are dying and suffering and the community is affected,” he said. “Getting this on the books now is going to be the best thing to proactively keep these facilities out of this area.”
Brosan’s referring to an incident in 2008 when 1000 dogs were rescued from the Whispering Oaks Kennels in the Parkersburg-area of Wood County. Brosan believes that situations like that one can be avoided in the future.
“We definitely see improvement in the facilities that we do get registered because obviously they can be inspected bi-annually so you can make sure that they are keeping up to date and make sure their animals are in good shape,” he said.
Harrison County Commission will consider the adoption of these fees. Elizabeth Keough is the Harrison County Animal Control Director, and she supports their adoption.
“We have no regulation of breeding,” she said. “We have no regulation of inspection, breeders, or anything like that. So this will give us at least some way to get into the facility to see, potentially alleviating problems later.”
Keough isn’t sure about commercial breeders in Harrison County, but she’d rather not find out the hard way if there are potential illegal operations going on.
“I would say we at least have a few breeders,” said Keough. “I’m not sure that they fall into the commercial-breeders. Potentially, there’s lots of places to hide a big puppy mill in Harrison County.”
Brosan said that the fees should be welcomed by communities–because the regulation will help legitimatize the industry in the state. The revenues from the fees immediately go back to animal shelters to assist with spaying and neutering.
“It’s not nothing, but it’s a fee that’s not horrendous and is doable,” he said. “These monies that come from that not only benefit the animal control and the shelters, but now you have this business that has to have a business license, has to pay taxes. It’s something that benefits the community all around.”
Brosan said that there has been push back from some in the industry, but that the bi-annual inspect schedule is far less intrusive than in other industries.
“It gives you the ability then to regularly check them to make sure what is going stays legitimate and is in the best interest of the animals and the communities,” he said.
The bi-annual inspect follows a checklist to make sure that the condition of animals on site is good. It inspects the quality of the food, water, veterinarian care, on-site staffing, and housing (including sanitation and confinement).
“There should be some regulation on that just like when you go to a restaurant,” said Theresa Bruner. “You expect to get food that is clean and well-prepared and healthy.”