PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER: In 2008, when Gov. Ed Rendell signed Pennsylvania’s toughest-in-the-nation law governing commercial breeding kennels, the objective was to end the state’s reputation as the “puppy mill” capital of the East.
Now, nearly a year after key regulations governing temperature, lighting, ammonia levels, and ventilation went into effect, there is little if any evidence that the Department of Agriculture is enforcing that provision of the law. The agency, which is facing a deepening financial crisis, is failing to cite repeat violators and is “committing a serious abuse of its discretion” by allowing the wife of a convicted animal abuser to hold a kennel license, according to state records and one legal expert.
As the governor’s Dog Law Advisory Board prepares to meet Wednesday for the first time since Gov. Corbett took office 15 months ago, animal welfare advocates say the lack of enforcement is a “travesty” and calls into question Corbett’s commitment to improving conditions for tens of thousands of dogs housed in breeding kennels… (more)
