Andrew W. Swain, chief of the Indiana State Attorney General's Revenue Division, has come up with a unique way to clamp down on puppy mills in his state: according to Forbes.com, he uses tax enforcement to curb the illegal facilities that may evade other types of convictions.
Swain urges other states to follow his example, saying that puppy mills exist because they make profits. He says that going after the mills' off-the-books business via tax enforcement would effectively put the facilities out of business.
"The problem with...traditional legislative methods [to curb puppy mills] is that they treat several evils of puppy mills that derive from the neglect of the animals, but fail to address the cause of the mills: They generate a lot of money," Swain told the news source.
Indiana raided and shut down two alleged puppy mills last year, taking a total of 318 puppies from the facilities. Operators of those mills have since pleaded guilty to a variety of tax charges. One operator was sentenced to perform 40 hours of community service that entailed cleaning out cages at a local animal welfare facility.
According to the ASPCA, dogs raised in puppy mills are at a higher risk for epilepsy, heart disease, kidney disease and a number of other illnesses.
Andrew W. Swain, chief of the Indiana State Attorney General's Revenue Division, has come up with a unique way to clamp down on puppy mills in his state...