In the big house: Fight rages over proposed animal sales bill

On Monday afternoon last week, two people walked into the statehouse to testify before the Agriculture Committee. One is a punk rock farmer, known for wearing black sunglasses and a Misfits T-shirt, and the other is the Indiana state director for the Humane Society of the United States.
The committee was hearing arguments concerning House Bill 1412, a bill authored by Crawfordsville-based Rep. Beau Baird that would set regulations on the retail sale of dogs in the state. If passed, the bill would void 21 local ordinances across Indiana, including in Tippecanoe County, that prohibit the retail sale of dogs.
According to Samantha Campbell, HSUS’s Indiana state director, under the bill retail stores would only be able to get dogs from breeders approved by the Board of Animal Health or the United States Department of Agriculture, that are canine care certified or are hobby breeders who meet certain requirements listed in the bill.
Hobby breeders are breeders that have no more than 19 breeding female dogs, and canine care certification is a certification program run by Purdue and overseen by professor of animal behavior and well-being Candace Croney.
The bill would require “retail pet stores, animal care facilities and animal rescue operations to register with the board of animal health,” according to its digest. It also “establishes mandatory disclosures and warranties for a retail pet store selling dogs” and “establishes a random inspection program for commercial dog breeders, commercial dog brokers and retail pet stores.”
The bill has been battled both in and out of the statehouse by two similar organizations, the Indiana Council for Animal Welfare and the HSUS, with both claiming that the other are making the welfare for animals worse.
Though they may seem similar from their exterior, both heavily disagree with their opposition's stances.
Standing behind H.B. 1412, the ICAW helped craft the bill that would eventually reach the floor of the house but faces stark opposition from the HSUS.
ICAW and support of the bill
Though advocating for the welfare and safety of animals, ICAW says the group does not consider itself as an animal rights group.
Jonathan Lawler, the public policy and media director for the group and an online personality known as “the punk rock farmer” on Facebook, Instagram, X and Tik Tok, said ICAW instead represents the “rights of dog breeders, farmers, horse owners and, then of course, pet owners.”
“We can no longer stay silent while animal rights activists work to take away our rights,” ICAW’s website reads. “We must join together, as one solid unit, to continue to fight for the freedoms and rights we have in this country.
“Join us, as we stand for our right to own and control our animals.”
But the HSUS has directed criticism toward the bill, saying that the entities which would be able to source animals don’t have adequate checks to monitor animal wellbeing.
According to the group, Indiana’s animal health board is not equipped with the funds to properly monitor animal well-being and only investigates complaints of poor animal wellbeing, which the board would be responsible for under H.B. 1412.
HSUS also claims the agriculture department doesn’t have high enough standards to maintain animal wellbeing in the state, with the department only assessing basic survival standards, while hobby breeders do not have to register with an organization to source animals.
“The issue with canine care certification, from our opinion, is that the program is very secretive,” said Samantha Chapman, HSUS’ state director. “So to be able to obtain the standards for canine care, you have to sign a nondisclosure agreement and their breeder list is not available to the public.”
Tom Murtaugh, a commissioner in Tippecanoe County where local ordinances restrict the sale of cats and dogs, said he also had issues with the fact that the third-party inspection program had to be scheduled.
“Samantha (Chapman) was a resource for us to talk about what kind of language needed to be included what kind of language needed to be in there to protect the work that rescue groups (and shelters) are doing to protect and exempt hobby breeders,” Murtaugh said.
Lawler and ICAW stand in full support of the bill, having consulted with Rep. Beau Baird and his legislative team to help craft the legislation’s language.
Baird and his team did not respond to requests for comment.
HSUS and opposition to the bill
Chapman said the HSUS “strongly opposes” the legislation proposed by the Indiana group.
“We fight for all animals and go to the root cause of animals suffering to eradicate it. We work on a lot of policy and incorporate change,” she said. “We work on a lot of policy and incorporate change. We work extensively with shelters and rescues across the state and support the good work that they're doing, but our organization– we really focus on policy and changing laws that better protect animals.”
For Chapman, her organization’s opposition comes down to one simple fact: “Responsible breeders do not sell to pet stores."
The ICAW has publicly attacked the HSUS several times on its website, even including an "HSUS FAQ" page on the top of the site.
“H.B. 1412 is being attacked by the Humane Society of the United States,” a letter on the group’s website says. “Their attack on farmers, hunters, fishermen, zoos and even the food we enjoy is enough for Hoosiers to say no to the HSUS. Furthermore, I am not comfortable with my state legislator working with their lobbyists as the Humane Society of the United States had to pay a 15 million dollar settlement in a federal racketeering lawsuit.”
HSUS has also been criticized by ICAW for its use of “misleading marketing campaigns,” which ICAW says makes it seem as if HSUS owns animal shelters when they don’t.
“An analysis of HSUS’s TV fundraising determined that more than 85 percent of the animals shown were cats and dogs,” according to
humanewatch.org
, a website promoted by ICAW. “However, HSUS doesn’t run a single pet shelter and only gives 1 percent of the money it raises to pet shelters while sucking money out of local communities.”
Chapman acknowledged that the HSUS doesn’t operate any animal shelters, but argued that public confusion isn’t the organization’s fault.
“We do work with shelters and animal rescue organizations in the state of Indiana and across the country,” she said.
Purdue and canine care
At the center of H.B. 1412 is an initiative created by a Purdue professor and is currently run through the university.
Candace Croney is not just the director of the Center for Animal Welfare Science, but also the creator of the canine care certification program, one of the entities that will allow certified members to source their dogs to pet stores.
“Every single breeder that we have worked within our research, who also happens to be canine care certified or later became canine care certified, tells us the dogs are happier (and) healthier,” Croney said. “They enjoy their dogs more because some of the behavioral problems they were seeing with their dogs have either become so much better or they have gone away.”
According to Purdue’s website, there are 213 canine care certified breeders across the country (116 in Indiana) and 352 breeders in the process of seeking canine care certification.
Last week, Croney gave testimony at the Agricultural Committee hearing which would decide the fat of H.B. 1412.
When asked about HSUS criticism of the certification program that would be core to the proposed legislation, she scoffed.
“Yes, those remarks are often made. Those are standard talking points,” she said. “We are not a marketing platform for anyone. I said this in my testimony on Monday, so they must have missed it, because they frequently miss this, but it is not for me to put the university in a position (where) we are giving people's information that they have not consented for us to give.
She declined to provide insight on her opinions of the bill in an interview with the Exponent.
“I cannot put the university in a position where we look like we are marketing breeders to the public.”
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