Dog breeders spoke out today in response to comments from those who want the legislature to toughen the rules so dog operations which are currently regulated by the U.S.D.A. would also be inspected by the state. The founder of a group called Iowa Voters for Companion Animals is calling for fees on breeders to pay for state inspections, saying breeders are raising animals under conditions that lead to disease and death. (see related story here)

But representatives of the Iowa Pet Breeders Association say poor conditions at kennels are the exception, not the rule. Joe Gerst breeds Yorkshire terriers at his farm in Amana. “There are those segments of our industry that are not dealing with their animals they way any human being should…and we want them to either change or we want them gone. Good legislation will protect good breeders from harassment,” Gerst says.

The pet breeders say they’ll support state inspections, but only after eyewitness accounts of abuse of animals, or after federal inspectors find violations directly affecting animal welfare. Animal rights activists say eyewitness accounts are impossible because breeders operate in secret. Gerst agrees some irresponsible breeding operations deserve to be called puppy mills:

Gerst says, “We want to do something about bad actors as well, probably as much as anybody in this room, they are a blight on our industry. We just want the legislation that will be coming out this year, also to be protective of the good breeder.” The activists recommend a fee on breeders to pay for state inspections. But kennel owners say they want protections in the bill to prevent what they call harassment from animal rights activists.

Humane society representatives say Iowa breeders make up one tenth of all U.S.D.A. inspected facilities.

A legislative committee is hearing testimony today on plans to increase the regulation of so-called puppy mills in the state. Advocates for the increased regulation spoke first. They include Mary Lahay, the founder of the group “Iowa Voters for Companion Animals”

“We need and deserve state oversight of the U.S.D.A. commercial licensed dog-breeding facilities in our state. We have over 400 of them,” Lahay says. She says there’s virtually no state oversight of the facilities and the federal inspections show 59% of them have violations of the Animal Welfare Act. Lahay says Iowa ranks third in the nation for the number of puppy mills.

Lahay says there’s over 23,000 adult dogs in the facilities that are kept in small cages their entire lives and bred over and over again. She says the conditions lead to multiple medical conditions such as cancers and tumors. Lahay says the figures from 2007 show the breeders made over 16-million dollars from selling the animals raised in the mills. She says a lack of regulation ends up costing the state and pet owners.

She says there are a lot of costs from people who purchase puppies and incur thousands of dollars of vet bills for the puppies that are ill. Lahay says there’s also the cost of running shelters and rescue operations. Lahay says she’s not against puppy breeding operations — she just want to see them regulated and run better. She says the state could increase the regulation of the operations and it would not cost the state any more money.

Lahay says breeders pay $20 a year for an Iowa license, and she says there are three to five breeders who make over one million dollars a year, and multiple that make $50,000 a year. Lahay says the state needs to raise the license fee to increase the oversight of breeders. The breeders are also scheduled to testify today before the committee. (See breeders reaction here)