Poll: Would you support a municipal/county ban on pet stores selling dogs from puppy mills?
As I read news headlines I often save articles because I think the topic deserves discussion in the St. Louis region, such was the case last month:
In curbing retail dog sales, San Diego joins Los Angeles, Albuquerque, N.M., Austin, Texas, and more than two dozen municipalities across the country. The bans, all of which have taken effect in the past three years, are evidence of a rapidly growing movement to put an end to so-called puppy mills, a term used by opponents to describe high-volume commercial dog breeders. Animal-rights groups say such facilities, which can move more than 2,000 dogs a week, supply the vast majority of pet-shop dogs. Unsurprisingly, the San Diego ordinance and others like it have attracted fierce criticism from breeders and pet-shop owners who say the anti-pet-shop movement is just plain rabid. (source)
To kick off the discussion, I thought this would be a good subject for the weekly poll. The poll is in the right sidebar. Results on Wednesday the 13th.
— Steve Patterson
I’m no fan of breeders, but I don’t think that retailers are the problem. The problem lies primarily with consumers, who either want something specific (and are willing to pay a breeder for it) or who are either too lazy (to seek out a shelter) or are too undisciplined (that they’ll buy a pet as an impulse purchase). I guess that limiting supply would reduce the number of impulse buys, but as long as people want pets, they’ll find a way to get them. And if shelters charge adoption fees that are perceived to be high, people will continue to shop at pet stores.
Are all “mills” created equal? And what marks the line between regular breeder and mill operator? Is a mill necessarily need to be a bad thing if ran humanely?
I’d need the answers to those questions before making a decision….we can’t all get our pets from a shelter (or may prefer not to).
“A puppy mill is a large-scale commercial dog breeding operation where profit is given priority over the well-being of the dogs. Unlike responsible breeders, who place the utmost importance on producing the healthiest puppies possible, breeding at puppy mills is performed without consideration of genetic quality. This results in generations of dogs with unchecked hereditary defects.” http://www.aspca.org/fight-cruelty/puppy-mills/puppy-mill-faq
they county can do what ever it wants, im not part of it, i dont care, i hope it burns to the ground
I would absolutely support a ban on pet stores selling animals and believe that the stores who have changed their business model from “puppies are products” to “adopt don’t shop” are making a huge positive impact on animal welfare. 4-5 million dogs and cats are euthanized every year – most of which would make good pets but to no fault of their own find themselves in overcrowded shelters. I have been in puppy mills and even after years of working in a county shelter – was traumatized at what I saw. If every consumer could see behind the eyes of the puppy in the window and, instead, see the mother of that puppy sitting in her own feces and rotting away without medical care or clean water – they would think twice about the health of that puppy and what they are contributing to. Good breeders do NOT sell their puppies to pet stores. Good breeders want to know who is buying their dogs – where they will live – the family they will be a part of. Only unscrupulous breeders blindly ship off puppies at 4 weeks of age -concerned only about a profit – not about the puppy. Banning the sales of puppies and kittens – begins to take away the ignorant demand. Laws are too slow and enforcing regulations with skeleton crews of inspectors is barely scratching the surface of improving mass breeding facilities. Taking away the demand will have the best impact. And in doing so, promotes adoption and lessens the needless euthanasia of good animals everywhere.
Puppy mills are simply filling a demand, as are pet stores. If people quit buying pets from pet stores, they would go the way of record stores, book stores and video rental stores. Sure, a few would manage to remain in business, to serve the outliers and Luddites, but most would no longer make enough money to keep the doors open. Banning the sale of puppies would likely be about as effective as banning the sale of marijuana or alcohol. As both the War on Drugs and Prohibition show(ed), if there is demand, even if it’s “illegal”, supply will be maintained, only at higher costs, to both individuals and society, at large.
Whatever happens, they better do it fast before the fascist ‘Pukes in the MO leg enact one of their signature statutes pre-empting munis from enacting laws which the ‘Pukes and ALEC don’t like.