Puppy Mills around the country have abused and mistreated animals for years. Animal rights activists have fought hard to keep man’s best friend safe, but the problem seems to be growing.  Over 4,000 puppy mills are in operation today, each containing about 250 dogs. Recently, puppy mills have received more public attention due to media reports from news outlets all over the country.

    Pennsylvania is known as the puppy mill capital of the East Coast, with an estimated 300 operations statewide. Lancaster County leads the way with 200,000 newborn puppies each year. 
     Dogs kept in the puppy mills in Lancaster, and all over the country, are often placed in small cages and allowed very little exercise. Cleaning of their pens is irregular, and feces and urine often cover the floor where the animals live. Their cages consist of old chicken coops, trailers, and broken boxes.

    The Amish-populated county breeds more dogs than any other in the country. In response, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture pushed a bill before the state legislature, suggesting a revision of the rules that would improve the conditions for dogs bred in the mills. The bill wound provide a paved exercise area for the animals and larger cages for breeding stock.

    Most activists concerned with the mills are angered by the USDA approval of operations that have not been thoroughly inspected. The USDA is required to do one unannounced drop-in per year on places like puppy mills to inspect the conditions. However, federal authorities have recently adopted a "risk based" inspection program.

Operators are given the opportunity to correct violations of the federal law that may come up during the inspection. If upon re-inspection the violation is not corrected, law enforcement may be used in an effort to improve conditions at the facility. Inspection policies have allowed operators to run indefinitely, with repeated disclosures of federal offenses. This fault in law enforcement leaves mistreated animals in the same conditions as before.

    Many see puppy mills as horrible establishments that take away humane rights from dogs, and sometimes even lives. Although awareness has been raised, puppy mills continue to be in operation, and some fear they won’t be shut down until a law is made against them.