Three Indiana dog breeders on Humane Society of the United States' 'Horrible Hundred' puppy mills

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana has three dog breeders on the Humane Society of the United States' Horrible Hundred list for 2019 and we're tied for eighth worst in the country.

The Horrible Hundred list is a sampling of the 100 especially problematic puppy mills in the nation released each year by the Humane Society of the United States. They comb through federal and state inspections to compile the report each year.

The organization believes there are up to 10,000 puppy mills in the country.

In Indiana, the four puppy mills that made the list are in the following cities:

• Kokomo
• Loogootee
• Odon

The breeders were not named in the report, but it did include details of what made them problematic.

In Kokomo, inspectors found an underweight boxer with a litter of puppies. The mother had backbone, ribs and hip bones "prominent and easily visible," according to the report.

In Loogootee, the inspector noted that the dogs' boxes had "not been cleaned in several weeks" and one of them had broken glass in it. According to the inspection report, there was a "large buildup of hair and some feces in several of the boxes" and it was clear the area had "not been cleaned or sanitized on a regular basis."

In Odon, records show an inspection was done at Blue Ribbon Puppies. According to the HSUS, Blue Ribbon puppies is a large broker for Petland stores that are linked to sick puppies. The Humane Society said records showed that in 2018, Blue Ribbon Puppies was linked to a drug-resistant disease outbreak that made at least 118 puppies sick. Ten other Indiana breeders and distributors were linked to that same outbreak along with 30 other breeders in eight different states.

In 2018, Indiana had four breeders on the Horrible Hundred list, including ones in Montgomery, Greens Fork and Reelsville that did not make the list this year.

1. Topping the list of the Horrible Hundred for the seventh year in a row is Missouri with the 22 poorly ranked puppy mill followed by Iowa with 13, Pennsylvania with 12 and Ohio with eight.

View the full list below:

1. Missouri: 22
2. Iowa: 13
3. Pennsylvania: 12
4. Ohio: 8
5. Wisconsin: 7
6. New York: 7
7. Nebraska: 6
8. Kansas: 6
9. Texas: 4
10. Arkansas: 3
11. Georgia: 3
12. Indiana: 3
13. Illinois: 2
14. Michigan: 1
15. Florida: 1
16. Oklahoma: 1
17. Massachusetts: 1
18. Maryland: 1

To read the report, CLICK HERE.