Last night, the West Hollywood City Council passed legislation that would ban the sale of dogs and cats in pet stores within the West Hollywood area. This is a huge step forward for animal advocates who wish to ban the sale of animals from puppy mills. By not providing a venue for sale of dogs and cats from mills, proponents of the legislation feel that this will cut down on the "animal trade" and will give more opportunities to encourage consumers to adopt rescue and shelter animals.
West Hollywood has been on the forefront of animal related legislation for quite some time, including passing a cat declawing ordinance and referring to animals as "companions" instead of as "pets". There were many animal advocates who spoke strongly in support of this ordinance, which would allow pet stores to sell animals only from rescues or shelters. Ideally, this would take animals out of shelters and reduce the number of pets which are euthanized each year.
Advocates hope that this legislation will now spread to other cities including Los Angeles and surrounding areas, which still allow sale of animals in pet stores.
Comments
Such inspiring news! Years ago West LA led the movement to ban declawing, and now this. Way to go!
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Hmmm..first they ban declaws, now they are banning sales of pets. Believe me, the next step on the agenda is to ban ownership of pets altogether. Wayne Pacelle of HSUS has said, Ingrid Newkirk of PETA has said it and they totally believe that this needs to happen.
Tom you are a delusional right wing fool.
Notice how when anyone on the "left" disagrees with anyone not in lockstep with them, the standard, consistent, party-line is to attack the person! NO facts, no message, no argument, no debate just ATTACK the person. Watch various political debates and see if this is not a consistent technique. It is very sad. Even on an issue like this. Geezz. America has had enough and will make a change.
As for the pets, no doubt we need to stop cruelty at puppy mills and there are intelligent ways to do that. As for rescue and shelter dogs, I am 100% for this, but of course we don't need stores to sell them. This would be horrific as it would just be a "sale". Shelters and rescue groups do home checks, experience checks and verify breed experience before a placement. NO pet store will do that. So this is essentially a way to stop all sales of pets.
Enforce existing laws and health regulations, educate the public and let the market place deal with it. Rescued dogs are THE best!
I agree with sojka...we need to enforce the laws that are already on the books. All of these animal laws that are flying through city and state legislatures have the backing of the HSUS. Some of them are good laws, but most simply muddy the waters and, in my opinion, actually make it harder for veterinarians and other animal health professionals to do their job properly.
So Jack...instead of attacking me personally, how about providing us with some facts of how I am wrong? I am prepared to provide quotes from each of the people I named that shows their true agendas
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