Puppy Mill Ban Proposed in Los Angeles
O pet store, if puppy mills are banned, where did you get that doggie in the window?
Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Koretz has proposed the City of Los Angeles study prohibiting the purchase and sale of pets bred in puppy and kitten mills, reports the Los Angeles Times.
Koretz' proposal targets sales of hundreds of thousands of live animals by puppy mills to pet stores. "This is a serious problem. We hope eventually to get to No Kill, but this is a step in the right direction," he told the Times.
If a ban is enacted, Los Angeles would join other cities with similar bans. The goals are to police abuses and cruel treatment in industrial animal breeding factories; and to encourage pet adoptions from shelters through pet stores, Koretz told the Times.
The LA Department of Animal Services took in about 55,000 animals last year, and expects the number to rise this year, General Manager Brenda Barnette told City News Service. Barnette said the average dog costs the city about $402. Cats cost about $281. Those costs would be reduced for every pet adopted from city sources, reports Fox News.
Although a list of animal rights activists and public officials agree on the puppy mill prohibition, nobody seems to have asked yet whether consumers would prefer rescue pets to animals bred in controlled circumstances.
Related Resources:
- LA Considers Placing Shelter Animals in Pet Stores (NBC LA)
- LA Councilman proposes ban on sale of puppy mill dogs (Examiner.com)
- Animal Cruelty-Definition (FindLaw)
- Petland Faces Puppy Mill Class Action Suit (FindLaw)