California first state to ban pet shop sales of puppy-mill puppies

[kenny]

Not a panacea, but a start.

Puppy mills suck.
Meanwhile many dogs are exterminated instead of being re-homed, like our precious Kizzy and Yaya rescues.

BTW, our girlz are now 12, and putting on the grey, but still gushing with love.



http://www.npr.org/2017/11/01/56093...ket-after-calif-bans-some-commercial-breeding

"California is now the first state to ban pet stores from selling animals from commercial breeders, thanks to a new law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in October. Animal advocates say it will reduce what they claim is the needless suffering of animals like puppies, kittens, and rabbits bred for sale. But critics say it will hurt pet store owners and force consumers to go underground.

The law goes effect in January 2019."

 

[House Cat]

Go underground? You mean buy from a reputable breeder or go to a shelter?

It is my sense that people who have it in them to go underground for an animal would probably do that whether animals were being sold in a store or not.

 

[kenny]

Go underground? You mean buy from a reputable breeder or go to a shelter?

It is my sense that people who have it in them to go underground for an animal would probably do that whether animals were being sold in a store or not.

Going to a shelter, or adopting from an agency, is not going underground; it's what is encouraged.
Buying directly from a reputable breeder is still allowed, as stated in the link.

 

[House Cat]

Going to a shelter, or adopting from an agency, is not going underground; it's what is encouraged.
Buying directly from a reputable breeder is still allowed, as stated in the link.

Hmm...i think I worded my post unclearly. I meant instead of going underground, they would have to go to a shelter or breeder.

 

[JDDN]

I think ‘underground’ means buying from a backyard breeder who many times does not care for the welfare of the animal, rather breeds repetitively for the money.

 

[Madam Bijoux]

They need to ban the puppy mills. I’m afraid that the animals that will no longer be sold to pet shops will be sold to medical researchers and dogfighters.

 

[telephone89]

Many large cities in Canada do the same (not province wide), however they are still rampant on kijiji/craigslist I wish there were harsher penalties for backyard breeders.

 

[Matata]

I'm intimately involved with this issue on a national level through my various activities with savannah cat breeders/rescue orgs. The intent of laws such as this is to force pet stores to sell animals that come only from rescue organizations such as the Humane Society. It will not have a significant effect on puppy/kitten mills. Laws already exist in most states regulating such mills but most of those same states fail to fund animal control sufficiently to provide effective over sight and to bring unethical breeders to justice. It's like throwing a marshmallow at a building in an attempt to bring it down. In the meantime, legitimate breeders who pay requisite license fees and provide humane housing and sound animal husbandry practices to the raising of their pure bred animals are the ones most targeted by animal control because they are the most visible. These breeders are over regulated to the point where some of the animals are actually negatively impacted by some of the enacted laws (example: in some states breeders are forbidden from raising kittens/puppies in their homes and are forced to raise them in cages outside the home -- kinda like the puppy mill breeders do -- which is less humane than raising them underfoot as part of the family. Raising in-home also yields a better socialized animal.) The unethical backyard breeders just keep going their merry way.

 

[TooPatient]

They need to ban the puppy mills. I’m afraid that the animals that will no longer be sold to pet shops will be sold to medical researchers and dogfighters.

That is my one concern with this new law. I don't think it is wrong to put it in place (I would love to see everywhere do what the pet stores around me do, which is work with local rescues and the shelter to have their animals in store for adoptions) but I do think it is too little and has the potential for very bad things if other laws aren't put in place (and/or enforced) at the same time.

Backyard breeders should be punished heavily. ANY mistreatment of animals (btw, horrible pictures from every "breeder" I have seen shut down) needs to be punished severely. I won't even get into what I think of dog fighters...

We also need to make spay/neuter mandatory (with possible exemptions for medical reasons like one of my cats who had serious health issues and would likely have died had we not waited a few years for her health to improve) -- at the same time as widely available and affordable. Yes, I know there are low cost (and free) options in many/most areas but the sad reality is that there are a lot of people who can't read the information to know it exists. I'm not talking about lack of internet but actual illiteracy in areas where spay/neuter is so desperately needed. Shelters should be equipped to spay/neuter on site PRIOR to any adoption where the animal is at all old enough.

TNR. TNR. TNR.
Use it! It is far from ideal, but is a lot better than letting strays run around having more and more litters.

Shelters... Yeah. I just won't even go there today. My heart breaks for all those that are out in the freezing cold tonight because the "shelter" isn't able to heat their outdoor kennels and all those at shelters that don't use the outdoor kennels in winter due to the cold and "have to make room" to keep all of them inside.


Excuse the random rant, but this is a topic close to my heart and it has been a rough couple of weeks that way.

 

[TooPatient]

I'm intimately involved with this issue on a national level through my various activities with savannah cat breeders/rescue orgs. The intent of laws such as this is to force pet stores to sell animals that come only from rescue organizations such as the Humane Society. It will not have a significant effect on puppy/kitten mills. Laws already exist in most states regulating such mills but most of those same states fail to fund animal control sufficiently to provide effective over sight and to bring unethical breeders to justice. It's like throwing a marshmallow at a building in an attempt to bring it down. In the meantime, legitimate breeders who pay requisite license fees and provide humane housing and sound animal husbandry practices to the raising of their pure bred animals are the ones most targeted by animal control because they are the most visible. These breeders are over regulated to the point where some of the animals are actually negatively impacted by some of the enacted laws (example: in some states breeders are forbidden from raising kittens/puppies in their homes and are forced to raise them in cages outside the home -- kinda like the puppy mill breeders do -- which is less humane than raising them underfoot as part of the family. Raising in-home also yields a better socialized animal.) The unethical backyard breeders just keep going their merry way.

Agree with all this so much.

Many shelters are not funded well enough to do the work they need to do. Some due to not being given the funding and others due to being poorly run.

I watch a few shelters in Louisiana, Texas, and Georgia. What I see every day on FB as I try to help in any way I can is appalling and leaves me crying most days. One I tried to save got to my foster and I got a message that he was far worse than in the pictures. I couldn't imagine. The pictures were BAD. We tried. I lost him. He literally starved to death because the shelter doesn't feed them enough, feeds them poor quality food, and feeds them in a way that the less assertive dogs don't get food. Another survived, but half her litter died from parvo after the litter the next kennel over exposed them to it.

So, yes. They are super underfunded. They need basics like food, heat, and cleaning supplies. They don't have any resources left over to go after the backyard breeders. Well, they do sometimes and then people scream because they euthanize a bunch already in the shelter to make room.

Rescues and a whole network around the country do what they can to help but it is EXHAUSTING. It is so emotionally draining that most people won't even try to help because they can't stand to even think about the horrors that go on every day. I have had people who are super active in local rescues refuse to even help me find fosters for animals in need because "it is just too horrible to think about" so they walk away and try to forget that it is going on. Those of us who try often wear out and have to walk away for our own sanity. I have seen pictures that I will never be able to forget. Every day.

This summer? Was even more awful than last. 500+ dogs killed every DAY at just one of the shelters. Yes, per day.

Want more enforcement of backyard breeding, dog fighting, and animal abuse? Fund them!!! (And actively prosecute so people get the idea and stop doing this stuff!)