Authorities found these conditions at an AKC “Breeder of Merit” only eight days after an AKC inspection. The “Breeder of Merit” was charged with cruelty.
The AKC claims it has “an ongoing routine kennel inspection program” and “a dedicated team of field agents” to certify breeders. And yet, despite certifying hundreds of thousands of breeders, including designating thousands of those as “the most conscientious and most committed breeders,” the AKC is not performing any inspections of most of them.
An in-depth analysis found only 10 inspectors for 138,500 “certified” breeders and that, at best, the AKC is only inspecting 5% of them. Based on data provided by the AKC itself, the analysis found that as many as “131,575 breeders, including thousands of Breeders of Merit, would never be inspected at all.”
Moreover, “Even when the AKC does inspect a breeder, its skeletal team often misses or overlooks obvious signs of neglect or abuse:” Case in point: An “AKC Breeder of Merit… was arrested and charged with animal cruelty only eight days after an AKC inspector visited the breeder’s property and issued a report saying everything was up to par, thereby steering the AKC’s dog-loving followers to an unscrupulous breeder who neglected the health and well-being of the dogs in her care.”
Want to be conscientious? Adopt.
As long as animals are dying, regardless of why they are dying or where they are dying, adoption and rescue remain ethical imperatives — and they should be legal mandates, too.
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