10 Iowa Puppy Mills On Humane Society’s “Horrible Hundred”

The Humane Society of the United States has released their 2018 list of the worst puppy mills in the nation with this warning:

Buying a puppy online or from a pet store? You could be supporting businesses like these.

There are a total of 100 puppy mills on the list and this year, 10 percent of them come from Iowa... the 3rd most of any state.

This is the sixth time the Humane Society has released their report and they're clearly frustrated with the U.S. Department of Agriculture:

USDA inspectors have continued to find conditions just as horrific as those in our prior reports, including dogs with open wounds, emaciated dogs with their ribs and spines showing, and dogs with moldy food, dirty water and filthy cages. The difference is that this year, we don’t always know which operators have been found with such dreadful conditions. The suffering these animals face seems even more unjust, because most of the identities of their breeders have been kept secret by the USDA– the very agency charged with protecting dogs in puppy mills and keeping bad breeders in line.

Without this information, The HSUS and the general public cannot evaluate whether USDA is meeting its charge. Additionally, consumers cannot judge whether or not they are supporting an operation which has been found employing the harmful practices described in this report.

Moreover, the lack of transparency can be a hindrance to law enforcement efforts in jurisdictions that rely on inspection reports to determine compliance with state and local laws.

For dogs in puppy mills, conditions like these are the norm—and no matter what the sellers say, breeders like these are the source of most dogs sold online, in pet stores or at flea markets.

In the state of Iowa, ten puppy mills are on the list. Many of them have had the name withheld by the USDA. Below is where they're located with some of the information about those that were identified: You can read the full report, HERE.

The photos are simply horrible. The conditions unacceptable.