New regulations on so-called puppy mills will take effect in a few weeks, with Gov. John Kasich signing a bill into law this past Friday. That has animal rights activists who had been wanting to put a puppy mill crackdown before voters calling off their campaign.
Activists had wanted a constitutional amendment on high volume dog breeders. But campaigns are expensive.
Corey Roscoe is the Ohio director of the Humane Society of the United States, and while an amendment would be harder to change than a law, she says Ohio is in a puppy mill crisis.
“A lot of the care requirements that are passed under House Bill 506 will go into effect sooner than voters would have even had a chance to vote on the ballot measure,” she said.
In May, animal rights advocates pushed for 13 amendments to the puppy mill bill, including food twice a day and continuous access to water, at least 30 minutes of exercise, new rules for cages and limits on how many times female dogs can be bred.
But they continued to collect signatures for a ballot issue in case the law didn’t pass.
