I recently sent Sen. Pam Helming a copy of pages 21-23 of the April 2024 Humane Society of the United States Horrible Hundred report, which describes deplorable conditions at seven of New York’s commercial dog breeding kennels that are licensed and inspected by New York’s Department of Agriculture and Markets (This report is accessible online).

In my accompanying letter to the Senator, I quoted a HSUS official who advised me that “I’m sure that most New Yorkers would be appalled to know that current standards of care in New York’s commercial breeding facilities are so minimal. These standards may require structurally sound and clean cages, yet these are merely survival standards. Most New Yorkers would agree that dogs deserve regular veterinary care, exercise and protection from conditions that lead to constant discomfort and deprivation such as wire flooring and crowded, stacked cages. In addition, they deserve proper veterinary care and protection from being shot or otherwise killed when they can no longer produce enough puppies to satisfy the facility owners.”

I asked Helming to imagine what it is like for a dog to be continually confined to a tiny wire-floored cage, unable to adequately exercise, walk any distance, forced to sit, stand and sleep on wire flooring. But unless a cage is dirty, rusty or in disrepair, kennel owners are allowed to subject the dogs to such awful conditions.

I asked her to read the HSUS report, which indicates that far too many kennels repeatedly violate even the existing inadequate standards. Even when state inspectors are refused access to the kennels, they remain licensed. There is a need to........

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