Wis. votes to regulate puppy mills

• Tweet

MADISON, Wis., Oct. 28 (UPI) -- Large-scale dog breeding facilities, sometimes known as puppy mills, will now be regulated in Wisconsin, lawmakers say.

Buy a 96-0 vote, the Wisconsin Assembly voted Tuesday to approve a bill to regulate the facilities, which will now require licenses from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

The newspaper said Wisconsin was one of the few states that had virtually no regulation of "puppy mills." It also lacked an inspections program to assure that dogs and puppies were being treated humanely and the authority in many cases to close the facilities, supporters say.

"This will have a significant impact on elevating the standard of care for puppy mills," Ellen Clark, interim executive director of the Wisconsin Humane Society in Milwaukee, told the Journal Sentinel.