Latest / The Animal Advocate / Unlicensed Breeding and Shelter Overcrowding: A Novel Legislative Approach

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Unlicensed Breeding and Shelter Overcrowding: A Novel Legislative Approach · The Animal Advocate

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Welcome back to the Animal Advocate. I want to tell you about my
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plans for this and the upcoming episodes because
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I've been looking at the data on what you're listening to, and it's clear
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you really connect with episodes about animal sheltering,
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what's working, what isn't, and how we can do better.
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I've got some concrete ideas about changes that you animal advocates
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could help make happen, changes that would genuinely reduce the burden
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on animal shelters. Starting with today's topic on reducing
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backyard breeding, plus other strategies to prevent people
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from having to surrender their pets in the first place. The math is
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simple. Fewer animals entering shelters means shelters have more
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resources to spend on each animal in their care. In these
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upcoming episodes, I'll be introducing you to these ideas,
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showing you what the laws would actually look like, and talking to experts
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about both the problems and the solutions that they think will move
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the needle. I'm also creating a resource to give you a jumpstart
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on making these proposals in your own state or city, something
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I'm really excited to share with you. So let's dive in.
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Welcome to the Animal Advocate, where we arm animal
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lovers with the information and inspiration you need to become
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effective advocates. I'm your host, Penny Ellison,
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and I've taught animal law and advocacy at the University of Pennsylvania
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since 2. If you've ever thought
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someone should do something about that, I'm here to guide you
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on your journey to being that someone. You can
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find us on the web@animaladvocacyacademy.com
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and that's where you'll find show notes and resources, and you can
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send us your comments on episodes and ideas for topics you'd like to
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hear on future shows. So, on to today's
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topic.
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Picture this. Every year, more than six and a half million
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animals find their way into US Shelters, and sadly,
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one and a half million face euthanasia because there's simply
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not enough space. Meanwhile, scroll through Craigslist or
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Facebook for just five minutes and you'll find countless ads for
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puppies, often from the very breeders whose
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excess inventory ends up in those
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overcrowded shelters. This isn't just a numbers problem.
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It's a systems problem. And like many systems problems,
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it requires us to think differently about where
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we're using our legal leverage to create change.
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The way we're regulating breeders right now isn't working. You can probably
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see that it fails when it comes to backyard breeders. So why
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is that? Well, first we need to understand when and
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how the law steps in and and then talk about the economic
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Realities that sustain backyard breeding. So first, let's
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define some terms. When I talk about puppy mills, I'm talking about
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larger scale breeders that select and breed dogs
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based on their mass market appeal. They're problematic for
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many reasons, most importantly, their lack of attention to the
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welfare of their breeding dogs. But they're treating it like a business.
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So they produce dogs, usually small breeds like French
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bulldogs or Doodles and Goldens, the uber popular
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breeds that people want to buy. These breeders are big enough that they
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should be regulated by state dog law regulations.
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They need kennel licenses and are subject to inspections.
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And the state can find them or shut them down, theoretically.
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Now, they can still fly under the radar, and states can sometimes
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be lackluster in their enforcement. But technically,
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puppy mills are covered by state dog law requirements.
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By contrast, backyard breeders are almost
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universally under the radar. They either don't meet the
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annual requirement for the number of dogs that are produced,
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or they don't step forward to ask for a license. And because their
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operations are smaller, they're harder for the outside world to
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see, hear and report. And often their friends and
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neighbors are their customers. They're just like puppy mills sometimes in
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that they don't take great care of their dogs. But also
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there's a difference. Because they don't consider the market for the puppies they
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produce, the result is excess inventory.
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Unpurchased puppies have to be disposed of, often at
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local animal control shelters or just abandoned
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somewhere. Backyard breeders contribute more to
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shelter overcrowding, in my experience, because of this
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breeding without regard to the market. And they're often
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breeding dogs that are already filling the shelters
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pits, Rottweilers, huskies, other large breeds.
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And they know that there's little to no likelihood that when
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they or their customers dump their dogs, either because they haven't
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sold or because they got sick from not getting any vaccines, they know
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that they're not going to suffer any consequences. During COVID when
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shelters were emptying, the problem got worse. Lots of
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people realized they could capitalize on the fact that everyone wanted a pet.
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So prices were rising and they bred and sold puppies.
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Lots and lots of puppies. So let's think about the
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incentives at work here. Backyard breeders. Obviously, they're
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motivated by profit. Prices rise and they keep costs
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low by getting no vaccines or vet care
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and maybe not keeping the puppies to the age that they can be safely
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separated from their mom. Ads from these unscrupulous
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breeders fill the online classified ads. The
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economics are simple. Minimal oversight and costs,
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easy advertising, ready buyers who want a
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simple transaction. And when things go wrong,
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shelters and the animals bear the cost, not the
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breeders. So one more distinction here. Backyard breeders can
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be accidental breeders or intentional profit
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driven breeders. The unintentional ones, I think,
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can be reached through education and subsidized
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accessible spay neuter programs. We've talked about them before
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and we'll talk about those programs again as we explore the
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policies and laws that can really change things for animals. Today
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we're focusing on those intentional backyard breeders, the
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ones trying to make money at it, because if their dogs are their meal
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ticket, they're not going to take advantage of any help with spaying or
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neutering their pet. So how do we reach them?
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Well, let's take a look at how we regulate breeders now and
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why current regulations miss the mark. The
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fundamental challenge isn't that we don't have any laws. It's that
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the way we regulate is based on 20th century assumptions
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about how the markets work. State and federal dog breeding
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regulations are designed to regulate large
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scale breeders and explicitly exclude small
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volume breeders from coverage. This creates a regulatory
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gap where backyard breeders who sell under the threshold
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number of dogs are exempt from any licensing requirements.
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The only restriction on their activities are state animal
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cruelty laws which require someone to actually witness animal
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cruelty and report it. And producing puppies
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is not cruelty. So right now we really have no
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effective tool to shut down backyard breeders.
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So as I said, I'd call this problem a regulatory gap.
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Not because policymakers intended one, but because they designed
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rules around visible large scale operations, while the
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real problematic action is really happening in the
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shadows with these small scale distributed networks.
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So let's consider the challenge in cracking down on these small
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operators without a huge expenditure of resources.
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Identifying these breeders we all know are out there is pretty
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much impossible. Take Pennsylvania for example. The state
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threshold for requiring a kennel license from the Department of
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agriculture is 26 dogs in a year. But
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even if a breeder meets that threshold, how do authorities find
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them? Customers aren't turning them in. We're essentially playing an
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endless game of whack a mole, trying to find individual breeders
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scattered across communities and often operating out of residential
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properties. Meanwhile, there's a massive problem on
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Craigslist with people advertising puppies for sale under the
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guise of rehoming them or placing them for
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adoption. That fools a lot of people. There are also many
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posts where people are either requesting stud services or offering up their
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dogs for stud. Platforms like Craigslist currently
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don't enforce their restrictions on posts like these. Instead,
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they rely on people to Flag prohibited posts.
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The flagging system is so inefficient and multiple
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people need to flag posts to even think about getting them removed. So
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here's where I think traditional regulatory thinking gets stuck.
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It focuses on regulating the hardest to find actors,
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those individual breeders, while ignoring the
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easiest to find infrastructure that enables them
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those advertising platforms. It's like trying to stop drug dealing by
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chasing every street corner dealer while giving broad immunity to the
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communications network that they use to coordinate sales.
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Backyard breeders wouldn't be able to sell nearly as many puppies
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without the help of online marketplaces. The online selling platforms
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have become essential infrastructure for this underground economy
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that treats its dogs like crap and puts such an unfair
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burden on animal shelters. This creates what systems
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thinkers call a leverage point, a place where a
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small shift in one thing can produce big
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changes. Instead of trying to regulate millions of
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dispersed breeders, what if we regulated the handful of
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platforms that connect them to buyers?
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Here's a new framework for regulation that's designed to reach these
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backyard breeders that are burdening our shelters and driving
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up euthanasia numbers. Registration,
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identification and platform accountability.
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Let's talk about what that means. This solution lies in
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creating a three part system that works with market
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incentives rather than against them. Number one,
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Mandatory registration. First, we require all
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breeders, regardless of the number of puppies they turn out, to
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register with state or local authorities, or both.
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Ideally, states would adopt legislation requiring all
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breeders to register in an online database and get an
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identification number. That database would reduce enforcement
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costs by giving consumers a mechanism to ensure
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that their purchases are from a registered breeder. Second,
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advertising requirements require registration numbers
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in all advertisements for dogs. Every
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ad must include the registration number and a
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corresponding sales tax number. Because when
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you sell a dog, you are supposed to be collecting sales tax and
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that sales tax number would have the advertiser's name, address
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and phone number. This isn't about creating a bureaucratic
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burden. It's about creating traceability in a market
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that currently operates completely anonymously and in the
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shadows. So the third element, and it's essential, is
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platform liability. Hold the platforms accountable
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for publishing ads without the required registration information.
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My proposed law would ensure that no ads offering
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dogs for sale can be accepted without a registration
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and sales tax ID number. Penalties would be on the
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platforms for accepting ads without that information,
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and that would eliminate the impossible task of identifying and
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locating and shutting down this huge number of
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backyard breeders. Will every backyard breeder comply with
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registering with the state and getting a sales tax license? Of course
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not. But that's okay. Then they can't advertise. The
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genius of this approach is that compliance becomes less important
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than visibility. No registration, no
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ads, no ads, a lot fewer customers.
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This approach borrows from successful regulatory models in
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other industries. Credit card companies became partners
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in fighting money laundering not through goodwill,
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but through know your customer requirements that made them liable to
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for facilitating illegal transactions. In the world of copyright
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infringement, a law, the Digital Millennium
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Copyright act, created a notice and takedown
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system that made platforms partners in copyright
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enforcement. Going after the medium means you have an
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enforceable law that works on a much larger scale
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than trying to send out kennel inspectors to find every person who's
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breeding in their backyard or living room. This approach succeeds
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because it aligns enforcement with economic incentives
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rather than fighting them. Platforms are easy to find,
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have real business addresses, employ compliance
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teams, and care deeply about avoiding legal liability.
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Unlike dispersed backyard breeders, they're used to
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regulation and have staff who are responsible for keeping them
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out of trouble. More importantly, it creates what economists
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call network effects in enforcement.
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When platforms start requiring registration numbers, legitimate
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breeders will comply to maintain their market access.
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Illegitimate breeders will be pushed toward the less visible, less
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effective advertising methods, or hopefully out of the
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market entirely. By removing profits, a
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domino effect is created. No sales tax number and registration.
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No ads. No ads mean no sales. No
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sales mean no profits. The beauty of this system
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is that it doesn't require perfect enforcement to work. It just needs
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to make unregistered breeding less profitable and more
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difficult than legitimate economic alternatives.
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Traditional animal welfare advocacy has been focusing
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downstream, building more shelters, encouraging adoption.
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These remain essential, but they're treating symptoms rather than
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causes. The kind of systems thinking I'm encouraging
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teaches us to look for regenerative solutions, approaches that
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fix the system that creates those problems, rather than just treats
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the problem. By transforming advertising platforms from
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passive enablers into active enforcement partners,
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we create a regenerative solution that prevents
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shelter overcrowding rather than just manages it. And
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this approach isn't anti technology or anti business.
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Most of the platforms already implement some kind of system like this
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for other regulated content. Like Facebook prevents
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ads for prescription drugs without proper licensing.
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Google removes copyright infringing content when they're
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notified about it. The infrastructure for verification
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already exists. We just need to apply it to animal sales.
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And my vision is that this goes beyond an
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enforcement action. The ultimate goal isn't just to stop
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bad breeders. It's to create conditions where transparency
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and accountability become the norm. When consumers
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can easily verify breeders through required registration
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numbers, buying from random Internet sites has to
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go down. When platforms become partners in enforcement
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rather than obstacles. The entire market shifts
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towards greater oversight and transparency. Also,
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the online database would allow inspectors to track
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puppy sales by number to determine which breeders have
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exceeded the level that qualifies them for an exemption.
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This creates natural mechanisms for graduated regulation.
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Small hobby breeders face lighter requirements while larger
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operations get more oversight. The path forward
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is straightforward but requires focused legislative
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action. States could pass comprehensive legislation requiring
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four key components. One Universal registration
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All breeders must register with state authorities with no minimum
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threshold for the number of puppies. 2 Sales tax
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licensing all breeders must obtain a proper sales tax
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license 3. Advertising requirements Both
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the registration and a sales tax license have to appear in all
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advertisements and four Platform penalties.
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Online platforms would face meaningful penalties for accepting
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non compliant advertisements. If comprehensive state
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regulation like this proves difficult to pass, advocates
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should pursue these requirements at a local level. City and county
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governments often have more flexibility to implement innovative
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solutions, and they can serve as a proving ground for later state
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adoption of laws just like this. Most importantly, this
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approach requires shifting our mental model from impossible
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enforcement to smart systems design. Instead of
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trying to police every backyard breeder, we create conditions where
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unregistered breeding becomes economically unviable.
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The animal welfare community has learned to think like 21st century
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advocates through the use of social media, data
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analytics and network effects to amplify impact.
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Now lawyers and advocates need to think like 21st
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century regulators, using systems leverage and market
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incentives to create the change we need. The overpopulation
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crisis in shelters is caused by a combination of
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factors including rising housing costs, especially
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for pet inclusive housing, not enough access to spay
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neuter services, rising veterinary costs,
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irresponsible pet owners and unethical breeders. And we
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can't solve the crisis by addressing just one factor. But by
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intelligently regulating the advertising infrastructure
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that enables irresponsible breeding, we can create
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leverage that shifts the entire system toward better outcomes for
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animals and communities. The question isn't whether we can
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stop every single backyard breeder. It's whether we can
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make the platforms that enable them partners in the solution.
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And that transformation, I think, is entirely within our
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reach. That's it for today.
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Take care.