Humane Society’s ‘Horrible Hundred’ List Includes Four Indiana Puppy Mills
INDIANAPOLIS — Four Indiana dog breeders have the negative distinction of making the Humane Society’s “Horrible Hundred” list of puppy mills across the country.
This is the sixth year for the report. One of the biggest distinctions in this year’s report is that the USDA has redacted the names of many dealers on hits public Animal Welfare Act records, including all four Indiana dealers named in the Horrible Hundred. According to the Humane Society, “The USDA removed most of the public enforcement records on puppy mills, and other types of regulated animal dealers, from its website on Feb. 3, 2017. Over the next several months, the USDA restored some records on other types of animal dealers, such as research animal dealers and large public zoos and aquariums, but most of the agency’s online inspection reports of pet breeders still have the licensee’s name, business name and license number blacked out.”
We do know what towns all four of the Indiana dealers are located in:
- Greens Fork (Wayne County, 15 minutes northwest of Richmond in far east Indiana)
- Montgomery (Daviess County, 1 hour south of Bloomington)
- Odon (Daviess County, 50 minutes south of Bloomington)
- Reelsville (Putnam County, 40 minutes northeast of Terre Haute)
The Greens Fork location had a puppy found dead in its water bowl with bloody wounds in August 2017, and another dog with a large wound that hadn’t been treated. Several other puppies did not have adequate shelter from the wind and rain.
The Montgomery location had underweight boxers with their ribs and hip bones showing, flaking skin and crusty eyes in January 2018. Another dog had explosive diarrhea for weeks.
In September 2017, USDA inspectors found puppies at the Odon location in a sweltering kennel building with a heat index of 103 degrees, lying on their backs, panting heavily with signs of heat stress. A second building with a heat index of 108 degrees had more dogs panting heavily inside, plus a nursing mother found “lying flat out and panting.”
And inspectors found five dogs at the Reelsville location in October 2017 in need of veterinary care, including dogs with runny, red eyes and signs of dental disease.
Missouri has been the worst all six years, with nearly one fourth of the entire list this year. Ohio had 13, Iowa 10 and Pennsylvania nine.
