FOHO WVLA felt that Animal Advocates of West Virginia summarized our need in WV for a Commercial Breeding Bill or Puppy Mill Bill so well that we asked permission to reprint their letter to legislators plus an article that was in the Martinsburg Journal in February.    They have also provided a case against the AKC, one which FOHO WV is increasingly supporting.  Especially since they (AKC) sent letters to Senators against SB 437 the puppy mill bill to kill it in this 2013 session.  It did however pass the Senate anyway.  Now we need to contact our house members.   It seems that many animal advocates around the country are finding out more about the AKC and not liking what the AKC has become.  This notion is supported in this recent NY Times article on the AKC showing how increasing awareness of the AKC's push to thwart animal welfare legislation, including some accounts of facilities that the AKC inspected and cleared and then shortly afterwords were shut down by local authorities due to poor conditions.  read this now .....NY Times article

Dear animal advocate,

Please send a brief message to (your house members) asking them to support current Senate Bill 437 Commercial Breeder Bill (anti-puppy mill bill). Please inform them that the American Kennel Club is and has been one of the strongest opponents of the bill due to the AKC losing over 50% of dog and puppy registrations in 2008. The AKC board of directors then made a decision to "go after" commercial breeders in order to increase AKC puppy registrations therefore putting more money back in the pockets of the AKC. The AKC supports puppy mills/commercial breeding because it makes them wealthier through increased registrations. Not one penny of the registration money stays in West Virginia but goes directly to the AKC offices in North Carolina and Madison Avenue in NYC. Below is a letter that I wrote and had published in The Martinsburg Journal and you are welcome to use parts of the letter to help you construct your own message. Thank you for helping to keep this bill alive and informing your legislators concerning the real reason that the AKC does not want to see this bill passed.

Cheryl Durst
AAWV Legislative Chairperson.

Here is the  letter which was submitted to the Martinsburg Journal in support of the Puppy Mill Bill. 

The Martinsburg Journal Letter to the Editor February 19, 2013 

Better puppy protection needed throughout W.Va 

A puppy mill bill will be introduced to our WV legislators (for a fifth time) asking for measures to be set into law that will ensure humane treatment of breeding dogs as well as their off-spring in commercial breeding operations. Even though West Virginia has animal cruelty laws, the breeding operations aren't inspected and are exposed only if someone complains to authorities. Whether the breeding operation is large or small, the suffering and squalor is all the same.  

After contacting local legislators I found that the American Kennel Club is contacting our legislators asking that our puppy mill bill not be passed. In the AKC's 2008 annual report, Ron Menaker, CEO of the AKC, made the following statements:  

“The American Kennel Club faces enormous challenges in reversing the continuing decline in registrations. Today, we are losing market share at an alarming rate, especially in the retail sector. We are being challenged competitively and financially. The declining registrations and associated core revenues, if allowed to continue, will fundamentally change our organization going forward. Make no mistake, the very future of the AKC and our sport is at risk. Management has been directed by the Board to aggressively pursue all dogs eligible for AKC registration. We intend to reach out, communicate, and educate those in the retail sector as to why an AKC puppy is the gold standard and why they should be registered with American Kennel Club. 

A projected 144,000 animals were taken into WV shelters in 2011 and approximately 77,000 were euthanized.    We estimate more than 54% of all animals entering our shelters in WV are killed.  Most are healthy, adoptable animals that are needlessly dying.  39% of the dogs are killed and 71% of the cats.  It also takes about $8 million per year to impound, care for and kill those unwanted animals in WV.  It is approximately $56 per animal handled as a cost to the taxpayers of WV.  FOHO WV has been surveying WV Animal Shelters on intake and euthanasia since 2008.  In 2008, we had a cross section of 12 shelters from different areas of the state that provided good statistics.  In 2009, a WVU student in cooperation with FOHO WV surveyed all 55 counties, some of which do not have a facility, animal control or statistics were not kept.  20 of 55 counties reported no data kept so we know the numbers are much higher than this.  In 2011, the WV Veterinary Board  required a report of the 30 counties with CAETs and their euthanasia rates for those counties.    By 2013 at the request of FOHO, they will also request intake numbers on their reports.   There is no central reporting agency in WV to gather these statistics like in other states.  There is also no mandate in WV for shelters to take cats and when they do accept cats, those euthanasia rates were very high.    We have collected 2010 and 2011 statistics .  Spay neuter is a critical missing ingredient.  We need legislation to be passed providing needed funding to reverse this trend.    FOHO WVLA was invited to attend the Senate Interim Committee meeting on the question of spay neuter on Sept 10th. and again in October.  We will keep you informed of what legislation will arise out of these meetings.  There are 3 Pet Food Industry lobbiest in Charleston working diligently against us.    There are a lot of animal lovers in WV.  Our legislators need to hear from them!