AMARILLO, TEXAS -- States surrounding Texas are cracking down on dog-breeding, which puts Texas at risk of becoming a bigger target for the industry. Officials say that because of the state's size and its lack of strong laws regulating breeders have allowed this operation to flourish.
Animal welfare advocates are looking to the Legislature for help. But in the last Legislature a bill stiffening regulations for commercial breeding operations failed, after opposition from pet breeders and veterinarians.
Police and animal officials have entered barns and sheds around the state to find hundreds of dogs stacked in cages in unhealthy conditions.
"These animals they, they don't have any kind of quality of life...they're kept in a very small cage...they're not allowed to move around, they're fed poor quality foods - sometimes they are not watered properly, they're not socialized to people," said Kelley Mickey, Director of Amarillo SPCA.
Mickey also says that once these animals are released that because of these conditions it usually causes the animal to be unfit for a pet.
Reports indicate that requests into animal brokers, dealers, and dog breeders have nearly doubled in the past two years. Since 2009, local law enforcement agencies across the state have conducted ten raids of commercial breeding farms in contrast to an average of two raids in previous years.
Texas is among the top 10 states in the number of licensed commercial breeders, said the federal Agriculture Department. About half the states have regulations over commercial breeding farms.
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Dallas Morning News
