This New Bill Could See Puppy Mills Move to Utah

Mar 4

A new animal welfare bill is making its way through Utah's legislature. If passed, businesses including puppy mills, circuses, and factory farms will be completely unregulated.

A disastrous new bill for animals is currently being fast-tracked through Utah’s legislature that could see many of the animal welfare protections that Utah has been fighting for over the years stripped away.

Sponsored by farmer and rancher Rep. Joel Ferry, the bill will stop local governments from “prohibiting or effectively prohibiting” the operation of an “animal enterprise”. Essentially, any business that sells or uses animals or animal products for profit will be entirely unregulated in Utah, including puppy mills, pet stores, factory farms, rodeos, circuses, and animal experimentation.

The Utah House of Representatives passed HB 476 “Local Agricultural Regulations on Animal Enterprises and Working Animals” on Tuesday by a 43-28 vote to the dismay of animal advocates. It moved over to the Senate for consideration on the same day.

“I have no doubt that this was all done strategically,” said Jeremy Beckham, research advocacy coordinator for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and former executive director of the Utah Animal Rights Coalition. “They’re moving so quickly because they are worried about the public attention.”

The proposal has received staunch opposition from animal advocates who argue that the legislation is particularly dangerous because of Utah’s weak animal welfare laws - out of America’s 50 states, Utah was ranked as the 46th worst for animal protection by the Animal Legal Defense Fund last year.

On Thursday, around 50 protesters gathered at the state Capitol to speak out against the bill. Rachel Heatley, advocacy director at Humane Society of Utah, said advocates are concerned the bill will create a "carte blanche for pet stores and puppy mills all over the state, to kind of flood us with, essentially, puppy mill puppies from the Midwest — let's be honest about it."

Support for the bill is coming from Utah Farm Bureau, the state’s department of agriculture, and a lobbyist representing pet stores, who claim the legislation is needed to preserve traditional agriculture and animal husbandry practices, such as castrating calves, a procedure typically performed without pain relief, which causes pain and physiologic stress.

“This bill is designed to protect corporate greed at the expense of animals,” said Santina Polky, campaigns and development coordinator at Species Unite. “And this law is not only cruel to animals, but it oversteps the right to self-determination of individual cities and counties. That’s why we’re calling on the Species Unite community to spread the word about this disastrous bill and contact state senators to ask them to oppose the bill when it gets to the Senate floor.”

Here's What You Can Do:

Find your Utah state senator here. Simply type in your zip code and street address above the map and two representatives will appear, click on the one that says senator and it will take you to their individual contact page.
Call or use the online form to write an email to your representatives asking them to oppose the bill when it gets to the Senate floor.
Suggested text to send: “Dear Senator, I am your constituent, and I am asking you to oppose HB 476 when it reaches the senate to keep Utah’s animals safe and to respect the rights of cities to define their own laws."
For non-Utah residents: spread the word about this disastrous bill - contact the press asking them to cover the story and ask your Utah-based friends and family to speak out.

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