By Simon Woodrup

Guest columnist

Most people have heard of puppy mills and the association is generally and deservedly negative. Puppy mills, or large scale commercial dog breeding operations, are unfortunately common throughout our state.

The Humane Society of the United States estimates that 2 to 4 million puppies are bred in puppy mills every year, which is about the same number of dogs that are adopted from and euthanized in animal shelters every year. The Department of Agriculture conservatively estimates there are at least 200 commercial breeders in our state.

Sadly, it is well documented that some of these dogs receive poor medical care and are bred in conditions that are often appalling. Most people will never see a puppy mill on the inside. Even when the dogs are sold to the public, often through internet ads, people never actually see the dirty and crowded cages where dogs are kept for no other reason than to breed and breed and breed. The bottom line for these large scale breeders is, of course, money.

A few years ago, the APS of Durham took in a number of dogs that came from a raid of a puppy mill in Virginia. The dogs were filthy, often with behavioral issues caused by a lack of socialization. I particularly remember one blind pug that had lived his life in a small cage for no other reason than to be breeding stock.

The North Carolina state legislature recently attempted to address the issue of puppy mills in our state. The proposed legislation was not intended to ban commercial breeding. Rather the intention was to merely provide some oversight of these operations to insure that conditions meet basic humane standards and that breeding is done responsibly to protect consumers and that these large scale breeders operate as the businesses they are.

One would imagine legislation like this would be easy to pass. The bill was reasonable and moderate (even exempted hunting dogs and only addressed operations with more than 15 female dogs. Again, it wasn't going to ban commercial breeding, just bring it in line with the same regulations that pet stores and animal shelters must follow. The public signed petitions of support and it was endorsed by a coalition of shelters and animal welfare groups, the County Commissioners Association, Sheriff's Association and the NCVMA.

The bill's sponsor, Sen. Don Davis, had seen firsthand the condition of a puppy mill that was raided in his district. He hoped to address the issue of oversight and Senate Bill 460 sought to "eliminate abusive practices and provide for the humane care and treatment of dogs and puppies by establishing standards for their care at commercial breeding operations." Our Sen. Floyd McKissick also voted for this legislation.

So why was this legislation not passed?

Unfortunately a strong lobby worked hard to see the legislation never passed. Groups like the NRA, the Farm Bureau and the Pork Council pushed for defeat of the bill and they were ultimately successful. Executive Vice President Erica Peterson of the N.C. Agribusiness Council, which opposed the bill, explained: "We encourage legislators to recognize that the Humane Society of the United States ... has a dangerous animal rights philosophy, which is energizing this bill -- a philosophy that extends to the agribusiness industry. This bill is just a first step; their next prey will be pork, cattle, and poultry producers."

So, the reasoning goes, these special interests are not in favor of puppy mills per se but oppose the legislation anyway because they don't like that one organization, the Humane Society of the United States, is supportive of it.

This is just the sort of politics that people are fed up with. If the time comes to address agricultural issues like factory farming standards then that is a debate that should be had. Holding an unrelated piece of legislation hostage so that that there is no progress made on behalf of suffering dogs because of the reasons offered is truly a shame.

Supporters promise to bring the bill back to the legislature next year and hopefully the public will be watching. Dogs can't vote and the lobbyists know this. It's time for the people who care about this issue to be heard by the legislators in Raleigh.

Simon Woodrup is director of community outreach for the Animal Protection Society of Durham.