Three-Year Ban on Pets for Sale in Pet Stores Proposed in Los Angeles

Remember Patti Page’s 1952 smash hit “How Much is that Doggie in the Window?” With its huge popularity and “fetching” sentiment, it reached #1 on the Billboard and Cash Box charts. With a ban on selling pets in LA pet stores already in place since 2010 in California’s West Hollywood and South Lake Tahoe, along with other municipalities across the country considering instituting a similar ban, the glorification of pet store puppies expressed in this one-time red-hot hit seems today to have turned quite chilly.

According to an item on LA WEEKLY Blogs,  the Los Angeles City Council could be hearing a proposal this month introduced by Councilman Paul Koretz, chairman of the Personnel and Animal Welfare Committee, effectively banning the sales of commercially bred cats, dogs and rabbits for three years in retail pet stores in the city. The ordinance would, however, permit the sale of pets obtained from shelters and non-profit rescue groups that are registered with the city’s Department of Animal Services.

The proposed ordinance’s goal is reducing the overcrowding and wanton euthanasia of surrendered or discarded pets languishing in city animal shelters. Koretz’s ultimate aspiration is turning all Los Angeles animal shelters into no-kill facilities. In commenting on the proposed ban, Koretz said, "That's going to take a tremendous amount of work and many steps. This is just one step in that direction."

Additionally, city administrators envision that the demand for commercially bred baby animals in kitten and puppy mills will be drastically reduced. Due to the information disseminated by animal activist groups concerning the inhumane and filthy conditions existing in these pet “factories” (where baby animals are churned out non-stop just to make a hefty profit), officials are hopeful that potential pet owners will adopt from local shelters rather than visit pet stores.

Animal activists claim that if the ordinance passes, other municipalities will follow suit since Los Angeles leads the way in many other humane animal-related issues.

On the other hand, according to the Contra Costa Times, those involved in the pet industry call the proposed ban a “witch hunt” that will result in financial ruin for owners of ethical pet stores.

Michael Canning, the President of the Washington, D.C.-based Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council, strongly disagrees with the ban since it would effectively close 11 local pet stores and put more than 60 people out of work.

Canning said, “Anybody that would engage in substandard breeding already doesn't follow the rules. This will just drive people to sell their puppies on the Internet or some other unregulated way like the flea markets or out of their trunks on the street."  He added that no studies have been made that demonstrate that anyone wanting a purebred puppy would seek one from a shelter if they were not available for sale at pet stores.

Do you think that pet stores should be banned from or allowed to continue selling kittens, puppies and rabbits? On which side of the issue do you stand?  Share your views in a comment.