NYS May Ban Sale of Puppies in Pet Stores as Animal Rights Groups Wage Campaign
By: Hadassa Kalatizadeh
New York State governor Kathy Hochul is being bombarded with requests from both sides of the debate, regarding the imminent ban of puppies sold in pet stores.
As reported by the NY Times, national animal rights groups have launched an email campaign to inundate the governor with emails requesting that she favor the ban. Lobbyists from the pet store industry are applying their own pressure in hopes of persuading the governor not to pass the ban. In June, after years of debate, NYS lawmakers passed a bill, with bipartisan support, that would ban the sale of dogs, cats and rabbits in New York’s pet stores. Animal welfare groups and the pet store industry are at odds, with both sides emotionally charged in the debate. The decision is now up to Ms. Hochul, who can veto or sign the bill into law. While she has many bills waiting on her desk to be signed before the end of the year, this one seems to rise to the top, with different groups fighting for a meeting with Hochul to discuss this matter.
A number of states including California, Maryland and Illinois have already passed similar bans to stop commercial breeders– sometimes derogatively called puppy mills or kitten factories. Animal rights groups advocate the ban, saying that the breeding is operated with little oversight and often the animals are raised in cruel and inhumane conditions, which they say often leads to the sale of sick puppies. They maintain that consumers should rather turn to shelters and adopt from there. Under the ban, people would still be allowed to purchase pets directly from responsible breeders. “We know what it looks like when animals don’t get that care and certainly, from photos and documentation of what these facilities look like, that is not happening,” said Jennie Lintz, the puppy mill initiative director at the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. “New York remains one of the largest markets for these commercial facilities, so the bill could have not just an impact here, but across the country.”
NYS’s pet industry, which includes more than 80 pet stores, can many times sell the pups and other pets for thousands of dollars. The pet stores say that the bill would put them out of business, with hundreds of employees left unemployed. They also argue that the ban would make it more difficult for people to get a pet in NY, which could potentially lead to an underground market for pets. The industry also contends that just because there are a few bad examples, overall very few of the pets are treated in an abusive or irresponsible manner. “Let’s not pretend that there aren’t people out there who are doing this the wrong way, but they are few and far between,” said Mike Bober, president of the Pet Advocacy Network, a national pet trade association. “We’re deeply offended and frustrated by the fact that people willingly and intentionally misrepresent the state of breeding in the country.”
Ms. Hochul, the Democratic incumbent running in November’s general election, has not yet publicly commented on her view regarding the bill. Her office said it was still reviewing the legislation.