This is a very interesting concept, and I’m not sure whether or not this could ever work if someone wanted to implement it in the Capital District.
According to this report in the Los Angeles Times, the city of San Francisco is considering banning the sale of all pets within city limits. That’s right – one would not be able to purchase a dog, a cat, a hamster or a goldfish in the City by the Bay.
The plan would have originally limited the sale of dogs and cats; this proposal has passed in several other California cities. You want to buy a dog in West Hollywood? Go to Santa Monica. You want to purchase a cat in Lake Tahoe? Cross the border and buy one in Nevada. This ban was brought about in an effort to curtail the demand for puppy mills, as well as to take the pressure off of beleaguered animal shelters.
But San Francisco’s ban would prohibit the sale of all pets, including goldfish and hamsters. Now I can understand the need for curtailment of the hamster population – those things breed so quickly, they make rabbits look sterile – but adding goldfish to the ban seems a bit overreaching. Oh and as for rabbits, 30 years ago San Francisco banned the sale of rabbits, as the kids whose parents bought them for Easter suddenly got bored with them a few days later.
Forget about buying birds – the ban would include the sale of parakeets, cockatiels, parrots, and anything else with feathers and the ability to say Pollywannacracker.
The proposal also includes banning the sale of live mice for pet snakes; Kaa will have to get by with dead, frozen mice instead. The proposal doesn’t mean you can’t OWN a pet in San Francisco; it would still be legal to adopt an animal from a shelter.
There is one loophole to this proposal, however. You can purchase a live animal in San Francisco, such as a turtle or a chicken or a lobster, so long as you plan to eat that animal. Yep… lunch is served.
There are several schools of thought here, and I can speak from experience throughout.
I have good friends who have taken shelter and rescued dogs and given them safe new homes. My friend Catherine, whom I’ve worked with in magazine projects for many years, has adopted several rescued dogs, including a cute little Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Millie; that dog previously survived as a breed dog in a puppy mill.
In Catherine’s care, those dogs are fed and cared for, and their lives are peaceful and serene. She’s also done “rescue raids” to help save animals from puppy mills and the like, so she knows first-hand the consequences of breeding animals without regard for anything other than the bottom line.
I’ve also heard stories about families who have purchased healthy, happy pets at shopping mall pet stores, only to try to return them a few weeks later from buyer’s remorse – or that Rover has marked his territory all over Mommy’s shoe closet. Sometimes the dogs that come from puppy mills have major health issues – hip dysplasia, the parvo virus, and so on.
But there are also success stories with pet stores as well, and I’m sure that many of you readers have fond memories of the first day you took a pet dog or cat or bird home from the pet store – or from the animal shelter – and that pet has become a stable and soothing part of your family.
It sounds harsh at first blush, but when one considers the number of illegal puppy mills out there – and the horrible conditions that exist therein – any attempt to curtail the pet population and to ensure that animals are treated with respect, and not as just a commodity that can be tossed away when unwanted, should be considered.
I would love to hear from all parties who have an interest in this – whether it be animal rights organizations or the Mohawk and Hudson River Humane Society, whether it be pet owners or those who want to purchase a pet. How would you feel if the City of Albany – or the Capital District as a whole – banned the purchase of pets?
Chuck The Writer 
I purchased a kitten at Crossgates Mall pet store and she lived for 18 1/2 years! I am involved in rescuing feral cats and finding them a home, but what I oppose about the San Francisco proposal is that it originates with nut-jobs who who equate selling pets with selling human beings and that animals deserve the same level of legal righst as human beings.
Banning the sale of animals won’t stop illegal puppy mills. They’re already illegal, a new law isn’t going to change anything.
Furthermore, banning pet sales will also result in a decline in pet stores, with the result that obtaining pet supplies will ebcome harder, especially for those living in inner cities where there are few grocery stores for humans, let alone for their pets.
And what about shelters? When they can no longer even charge a nominal fee will San Francisco tax payers agree to foot the bill for all the spaying and neuterings those fees pay for? What will hapopen is that the animal shelters will begin to fold.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and apparently has an on-ramp near San Francisco.
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San Francisco – first NO-KILL CITY in the U.S. (See Nokillsolutions.com).
To get to the core, you have to work the parameters.
Way to go, SF. Absolutely brilliant!!
PS: One CA county has mandatory s/n. You have to move quickly on these issues, though, before greedy breeders wake up and complain about their only source of income (should be closed down because they generally don’t pay any income taxes on the profits).
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I find it an amusing piece of news. Can’t say whether or not it’s going to be something that works for San Francisco, it’s been too long since I’ve been away. The concern I would have would be for the small pet shop owners who have made their living off selling animals. They can’t rake in those kinds of sales with pet food alone. From what I understand those places were pretty decent about selling pets. Lots of care advice, following up, but it would really depend on the store owner. Can’t imagine *all* were like that.
As far as Albany, no. There’s no way that would happen here. Just no. People would flip out.
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I don’t know. It would be better to shut down all puppy mills and make it illegal to purchase from them, but it’s like pulling teeth to get a conviction that’s more than a slap on the hand when it comes to animal abuse crimes.
Outlawing pet stores would be a way to circumvent…I’m not sure how careful pet stores are unless they are specialized, so in terms of ruining small business owners -they kind of brought this on themselves.
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I like it. As a society, we have to make some serious changes in the way that we view pets. True, dogs and cats, etc, aren’t human beings, but they are living creatures with personalities. We over breed for profits based on the demand. Individuals have very specific wants and needs as it pertains to what type of pet they have (certain breed, color fur, etc) and puppy mills and mall pet stores attempt to cater to those wants and needs by showcasing a variety of pets. And because they are cute, idiots make impulse buys and don’t consider what it takes to take care of a pet. There are way too many morons who treat their pets poorly and way too many poorly treated animals to be taken in by people who actually want to care for a pet.
I hope this passes in San Fran and I hope Albany does it too.
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“Banning the sale of animals won’t stop illegal puppy mills. They’re already illegal, a new law isn’t going to change anything.”
Puppy mills are very legal in many places, including NYS, and the requirements for dog care and spacing at such “farms” is less than desirable. Now within those puppy mills, maltreatment is abundant, but infrequent inspection is why those illegal issues occur.
I’m personally against the intensive raising of companion animals, and the real losers aren’t the puppies that die of parvo three weeks after you buy them, but the parent animals left in cages their entire lives, bred and bred again like machines.
I do think that SF’s new initiative has a lot of to do with abolitionist animal rights activists, but also with plenty of welfarists around who are just sick and tired of the pounds being full of unwanted and dumped animals.
It’s a farce to believe that banning the sale of companion animal there would make it so that no one could have such an animal. People who want to adopt still have options, people who want to buy animals very badly will do it anyway, but getting rid of the live pet sales may at least severely curtail irresponsible and frivolous animal purchases (which in my opinion, is unfortunately a whole lot of them when it comes to live sales at pet stores).
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“Sometimes the dogs that come from puppy mills have major health issues – hip dysplasia, the parvo virus, and so on.”
Sometimes dogs that come from reputable breeders, who do health testing and may only produce one litter every other year, have major health issues. One of my dogs has hip dysplasia, and is from such a breeder. It happens.
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Excellent commentary. Puppy mills are the last form of slavery on earth. Many breeder dogs spend almost their entire lives in a cage the size of a dishwasher, producing one litter after another till they can’t produce any more. Then when they are no longer useful to the breeder, they’re sold at auctions to vivisection labs. Don’t buy puppies from pet stores. It only perpetuates the horrible cycle for greedy backyard breeders. If you’re tempted to buy a puppy from a shop, think about the mother dog whose life is torture. Ask where the puppy came from and ask for the breeder’s name and address. Ask the shop owner if they’ve personally seen the environment the puppy came from. You will not get a friendly reply to those questions. Your next step should be to go to a shelter, humane society or petfinder.com and adopt. There are so many great dogs of all types.
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If only they could make a law that forced people to be good pet owners, then we’d really be getting somewhere.
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This type of law only encourages inter-net sales where oversight and regulation is impossible. Far more puppy mills sell online than through private party. AKC breeders are already not allowed to sell to pet stores.
This law would promote puppy mills.
Not to mention hindering pet ownership over all.
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