Can Someone Please Explain The GOP Obsession About Puppy Mills

Can someone please explain to me what the GOP fascination is with puppy mills. I don’t mean to be (too) snarky, but are they a source of huge employment in “real America”. It first came to my attention when the state of Ohio felt the need to prevent any attempt for localities in the state to stop pet stores from selling dogs from commercial breeders. And, of course, the GOP resistance to these laws has very little to do with the actual breeders and more to do with catering to the needs of the big pet store chains.

The cities of Toledo and Grove City passed laws that limited where pet stores could buy the dogs they sell. This became quite a problem for Petland, the pet store chain which is also headquartered in Ohio. Petland complained that it would make it impossible for their business if every town in Ohio had differing regulations on purchasing dogs from puppy mills such as the ones in Toledo and Grove City. Animal welfare advocates felt this was an appropriate way to ensure substandard dog breeders are put out of business. And local control advocates joined those animal welfare advocates in an unusual alliance opposing the bill, temporarily derailing it.

Ohio Republican legislators, however, saw this puppy mill bill as an opportunity to expand it to include overriding local ordinances on another issue, specifically raising the minimum wage. The city of Cleveland was scheduled to have a vote on raising the minimum wage in that city sometime this spring. Legislators applied the same logic as Petland to describe this as a totally unworkable solution for the state. One legislator said having cities set their own minimum wage would “help destroy the economy” of Ohio. The idea was so appealing that they also threw in prohibitions from cities regulating paid sick leave and employee scheduling. And to make sure this mammoth bill passed, they decided to throw in an anti-bestiality law as well. That meant anyone who opposed the restriction on the minimum wage would have to cast a vote for bestiality. Apparently, the GOP dominated Ohio legislature isn’t really that concerned about the economic anxiety of the white working class since they seem quite comfortable with making sure the minimum wage won’t rise, there will be no sick leave, and employers can schedule workers any darn time they want. But those puppy mills will still be in business. And Petland is happy.

Now we learn the Trump administration is removing data on commercial breeders as part of its general attempt to restrict public information from the public. The USDA has removed a mass of animal welfare data from its website, data that included inspection records of commercial breeders. Rather than using the USDA website, citizens are advised to use a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to get information on specific breeders. FOIA requests are expensive and it sometimes takes months or years to get a response. An animal rescue group says, “This move makes it IMPOSSIBLE to find out where animals are located, their treatment and any violations, essentially giving carte blanche to anyone to hide animal violations, and violate animal welfare laws, among other things.” According to the Huffington Post article, “One member of President Donald Trump’s USDA transition team, Brian Klippenstein, has a long history of fighting animal welfare regulations. Klippenstein is executive director of Protect the Harvest, a group that, among other things, has vehemently opposed legislation meant to fight abusive puppy mills”.

Is this really the power of the pet store lobby? Is this a sop to the dominionists in the Christian right who believe that man has power over all creatures on the earth? Is this a libertarian thing? I just don’t get it. Please explain.