Baby, a puppy mill survivor whose story is told in Jana Kohl's book, A Rare Breed of Love, has inspired the name for legislation just introduced in Congress.

The Puppy Uniform Protection Statute ("PUPS") or "Baby's Bill" will finally close a loophole in the Animal Welfare Act regulations for large commercial dog breeders and dealers.

Currently, those puppy mills that sell directly to the public through the Internet or newspaper or magazine ads or at flea markets or by the roadside are not regulated at all under the AWA. These mills are not required to be licensed, submit to inspections or otherwise comply with federal regulations.   

Baby's bill, H.R. 6949, introduced by by Reps. Sam Farr (D-Calif.), Jim Gerlach (R-Pa.), Lois Capps (D-Calif.) and Terry Everett (R-Ala.) would require puppy mills that sell 50 or more puppies directly to the public each year must comply with the AWA. The bill was specifically targeted to reach only the largest commercial mills. Hobby breeders and those that sell less than 50 dogs per year directly to the public would be unaffected.

The bill would also require millers to remove dogs from their cages and allow them to exercise for an hour each day. 

Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) introduced a companion bill in the Senate.  Animal Law Coalition will bring you the text of the bills as soon as they become available online.

This bill would be a significant step in improving the lives of the thousands of dogs living in the squalor of unregulated mills that provide little or no nutritious food or veterinary care, no exercise, human interaction, or grooming; and force dogs to live, covered in filth, fleas, tics or the like, in feces filled, overcrowded stacked cages in which they lie 24/7, many times their legs and paws falling and catching in the wire mesh.   

There are, of course, many states and even counties and cities that require licensing of these breeders and have some regulation of them. But because there is no federal licensing requirement for breeders that sell directly to the public, puppy millers can simply relocate to one of the many states that have no regulation.    

What does it mean to be subject to regulation under the Animal Welfare Act? Read Animal Law Coalition's the Animal Welfare Act: Regulating Animals Caught in the Pet Trade.