March 28, 2024

Puppy Mill Lobby Day will be Feb. 10

On Feb. 10, Iowa Friends of Companion Animals and Animal Rescue League of Iowa are co-sponsoring Puppy Mill Lobby Day 2016 in Des Moines to highlight the effort toward getting better state oversight and standards for the commercial dog-breeding industry in Iowa. IA Friends has arranged for buses to bring advocates from all across the state to attend.

Registration for the event will begin at 10:30 a.m. at Forte Banquet and Conference Center at 615 Third St. in Des Moines. At 11 a.m., there will have a brief coaching session for participants on how to communicate their concerns about Iowa’s “puppy mills” effectively and respectfully to their state legislators.

Following that session, the group will hear a presentation by Theresa Strader, founder and director of National Mill Dog Rescue of Colorado Springs, Colo. Since 2007, Strader has coordinated rescues of more than 10,000 puppy mill dogs and acted as a spokesperson, medical team member, and foster-mom for NMDR.

At 1 p.m. the group will depart for the Iowa State Capitol.

The Advocacy Team contact person for the Jasper County area is Paula Arkema. The local Advocacy Team meets monthly and local citizens are invited to attend.

For more information on these meetings please contact Paula Arkema at parkema@iafriends.org.

This year’s Humane Lobby Day effort is especially noteworthy as it will involve the participation of new regional Advocacy Teams that we have established throughout the state. So far we have set up nine of these regional teams in order to increase our public education efforts, communicate better with legislators in those districts and monitor local commercial dog-breeding operations.

The event was originally scheduled for Feb. 3 but was pushed back a week due to the weather forecast.