If someone illegally double parks in a one-way street and a cop walks by, the expectation is that they’d get fined. Similarly, you’d think that if a company that uses animals is caught mistreating them, they too would face some sort of legal repercussion. But for many businesses in the US, that’s not what’s happening.

This summer, an inspector with the US Department of Agriculture visited a dog breeder in Ohio where they found one of his dogs — a 4 1/2-year-old female Maltipoo — to be in bad shape. Several of her teeth were missing, she had gum recession, and when the inspector lightly pressed on some of the teeth she still did have, they moved. The breeder was issued a warning, which has no real consequences.

That was also the case when, three years prior, a USDA inspector who visited A

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