Nonprofit raises concerns that Iowa regulators are facilitating 'puppy laundering'

[SharonClark]

My response... We'll, of course they are. The state and feds pay lip service to puppy mills.

An Iowa state agency is charging a nonprofit group $225 to offset the expense of searching for puppy-mill records the agency now admits it doesn’t maintain.

The nonprofit group that has been invoiced for that expense objects to paying the state to look for nonexistent records. But the group says its bigger concern is that the state should have those records in hand and be using them to prevent the illegal sale of animals to out-of-state retailers.

In late June, Mindi Callison of the Iowa-based animal welfare organization Bailing Out Benji filed a formal Open Records Law request with the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, seeking access to all 2021-22 government forms that one Iowa dog breeder, Steve Kruse of West Point, had filled out showing where he was shipping his dogs.

In response, the department estimated it would take 8.75 hours, at $25 an hour, to search for the documents, which would add to up $218.75 in costs. The agency said that “after the request has been completed,” Callison would be mailed an invoice for the expense, and that once payment was received, she’d receive an email with a link to a Dropbox account where she could access the records in question.

Callison approved the estimate. Two weeks later, IDALS informed her the search for the records was completed and sent her an invoice for $225 for nine hours of searching – although the agency provided no records.

When asked for an explanation, IDALS Administrative Assistant Jamie Carter told Callison that IDALS didn’t maintain any such records, noting that while breeders are required to complete and keep records of their sales pursuant to federal regulations, IDALS doesn’t collect copies of those documents.
. . .
Callison says the lack of recordkeeping by both the federal and state government represents “a giant loophole” in the regulatory system. She says that loophole is facilitating a national puppy-laundering scheme in which breeders produce puppies that are falsely labeled as “rescues” to boost sales.
. . .
n 2019, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller sued two nonprofits and a commercial broker, accusing them of illegally transferring hundreds of commercially produced puppies through phony nonprofit “rescue organizations” that, in turn, sold the dogs to out-of-state retailers.
. . .
Iowa is home to many of the nation’s biggest puppy mills. During the second quarter of 2022, a total of 23 Iowa breeders and brokers were cited for regulatory violations by the USDA — the highest number of violators of any state in the nation. Missouri came in a distant second place for the number of violators, at 13.

source: https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2022/08/18/nonprofit-raises-concerns-that-iowa-regulators-are-facilitating-puppy-laundering/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=3387b480-472f-49d6-a837-86e273a02184

[leftyladyfrommo]

1. Missouri legislator's mother runs a puppy mill.

People in Missouri hate the puppy mills but the state government refuses to do anything. Their argument is that we have existing laws that will work. We just need to enforce them.

There is way too much money to be made selling dogs. Even if they find a way to shut down pet store sales breeders will just find another way to sell puppies. They go to Swap and Shops and sell them there.