Regulating commercial dog breeders

RALEIGH (AP) — Kim Alboum, the director of the Humane Society of North Carolina is working with animal control officers and legislators on a bill to regulate commercial dog breeders in hopes of preventing operations such as one in Stokes County where dogs were recently found sleeping in their own waste.

North Carolina licenses breeders who sell animals to research facilities and pet stores. But about 90 percent or more of the state’s breeders sell directly to buyers through newspaper or Internet ads, said Ann Church, vice president of state affairs for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

A bill to regulate commercial breeders passed the state Senate in 2009, but it died in the House after pressure on lawmakers from groups including the N.C. Pork Council and the Farm Bureau. Nationally, at least 19 states have some level of regulation in place for commercial dog breeders, the Humane Society says.

The Humane Society estimates 250 to 300 commercial dog breeders operate in North Carolina, and most are responsible, according to Alboum.