The state of California has announced an investigation into the state’s underground puppy market after a Times investigation found that some unscrupulous resellers were importing hundreds of dogs from the Midwest with little oversight. The destruction of records containing sensitive details has been halted.
Karen Ross, secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, acknowledged that the records her agency received are now on file, but provided few other details about how the state would use them. .
“We don’t have the dedicated staff for this, so we’re a little bit stuck right now, but it’s not because we don’t want to be part of the solution,” she said in a brief interview this week. .
California requires all dogs brought into the state for resale to have a certificate issued by a federally certified veterinarian stating the animal’s origin, destination, and proof that it is healthy for travel. It has become. The Agriculture Department has long received these health certificates from other states in error, and the records are sent to county public health departments, a practice in recent years to immediately destroy them.
The Times found consumers who unknowingly bought expensive dogs from resellers posing as local breeders by obtaining health certificates from other states. Many of the dogs are sourced from out-of-state puppy mills, leaving some new owners with sick pets and high veterinary bills.
After the investigation, lawmakers and animal rights groups called on the state Department of Agriculture to stop “destroying evidence” that dogs were illegally imported into the state, prompting the department to change course.
“There’s a lot of interest in finding the ultimate solution, and we’re very interested in that ourselves,” Ross said.
An Agriculture Agency spokeswoman previously said the current system is “confused” because the state oversees health certifications for livestock and poultry imports, but counties are also supposed to receive similar documentation for dogs. “I do,” he admitted.
According to the Department of Agriculture, up to 50 dog health certificates arrive each day, but because they were sent in error, there is no dedicated staff to handle them. Ross said previous decisions to delete records should not be confused with authorities not caring: “We do.”
The agency said it is notifying other states that records should be sent to counties, not counties. In response, some states stopped sending records to California altogether, the Times reported.
California first began requiring records in 2014 to prevent consumers from purchasing sick puppies and reduce the chance that dogs brought into the state would be infected with communicable diseases. Lawmakers said at the time that the legislation would give counties a complete picture of the number of dogs entering their jurisdictions from outside of California, which is a small percentage of pets, according to state archives files. Local animal control officials were left with a blind spot because sales are increasingly happening online, she said. .
After the Times report, state Senate Judiciary Chairman Sen. Tom Amberg (D-Orange) immediately halted the health certificate revocation so that lawmakers and animal welfare officials could “absorb the information that comes to light.” The Ministry of Agriculture was asked to do so.
“I was subsequently relieved to receive assurances from Secretary Ross that these documents would no longer be deleted,” Amberg said in a statement.
Ross said the department has attempted to recover some of the destroyed records. In response to a public records request, officials last week provided 57 records related to dogs imported into California, but the names and addresses of the people who ordered the animals were redacted. Records show six Cavapoos, all 8 weeks old, were approved by an Ohio veterinarian to be sent to California. The purchaser’s name and address (including city) were blacked out by California authorities.
In many cases, California agriculture officials also redacted the breeder’s name.
Companion Animal Protection Society founder Deborah Howard requires health certificates from various states to track how dogs move from puppy mills to pet stores and other resellers. I did. He said California has provided unredacted copies of health certificates to organizations in the past and should continue to do so.
“There are too many dogs suffering in California right now, and we have an obligation to track every dog that comes in,” Howard said, referring to the overpopulation crisis in the state’s shelters. did. “This should be a public record so anyone can request that information.”
State law requires dog importers to provide records to county public health departments, but few do. Without these records, the dog is illegally imported. Meanwhile, many county employees have little knowledge that they are required to collect documents, and most do not.
Ventura County Animal Services spokesman Randy Friedman said the county has not received a single dog health certificate this year. By requesting documents from other states, the Times obtained records of hundreds of dogs in recent years that California dog importers were supposed to send to Ventura County.
“Unscrupulous operators who source dogs from out-of-state puppy mills for resale to unsuspecting buyers in California want to avoid oversight, so they import dogs in compliance (by law),” Friedman said. They are unlikely to submit health certificates.”
Lisa Eldridge, manager of public safety for the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control, said the agency doesn’t track puppies brought in by truck from the Midwest, but import records would be helpful.
“Is it worth it from an enforcement standpoint? Absolutely,” she said. “I think we need to figure out who the big players are. Who the hell is importing these puppies?”
At the same time, the large number of import records to follow up could overwhelm the understaffed department, she said.
He acknowledged that the system as currently set up is easy to abuse by importers, and that penalties for failing to submit health certificates to county public health departments are light and unenforced.
“How do they get caught? That’s the question,” she said. “Why do you follow the rules?”
