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Minnesota animal protection laws ranked 32nd by Humane Society

By Joe Kimball | 01/19/12

A national Humane Society ranking of how the states deal with animal protection issues puts Minnesota in the 32nd spot.

Wisconsin's rating is a tad better: tied at 30th.

The Humane Society says the rankings were developed by looking at a "wide range of animal protection laws on issues ranging from animal fighting to farm animals to wildlife to companion animals."

Minnesota lost points "for having weak penalties for people attending animal fights and [it] also lacks basic protections for dogs [in] puppy mills," the report said.

South Dakota came in last: It's "one of only three states with no felony level penalties for egregious acts of cruelty and also has some of the weakest laws against cockfighting in the entire country."

Comments (2)

Submitted by Pat Berg on January 19, 2012 - 1:55pm.

Commercial dog producers are already regulated by the USDA via the Animal Welfare Act and subject to inspection by the Department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). Granted - like so many other underfunded agencies - the thoroughness and frequency of the inspections aren't what they should be.

But the answer isn't to add another set of regulations written by people who too often do not understand the issues (see SOPA/PIPA for an example of how these things can end up). The answer is to get the USDA to begin enforcing the regulations already on the books.

Of course, HSUS would be perfectly happy to see an end to ALL breeding of dogs, whether done in a commercial puppy farm or by a Responsible hobby breeder who is doing things right for the dogs. Any rankings they apply to how states are doing things lacks all credibility among people who are in touch with the issues.

Submitted by Paul Brandon on January 19, 2012 - 4:16pm.

If the USDA is to do a better job of inspecting and enforcing existing regulations it will need more inspectors and lawyers, which means increased funding.
The same argument holds for agricultural inspections in general. The odds of a specific facility being inspected are pretty low right now.