Pet Stores That Buy Puppies
Under the law, which goes into effect in 2024, retail stores that previously sold pets can still operate and sell pet supplies and other accessories. They also have the option to charge shelters and rescue groups rent to use their space for adoptions.
pet stores that buy puppies
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has pushed the governor and other state leaders to do more against the puppy mill pipeline and go after stores that sell animals from those facilities. A report released this year by the ASPCA found that 1 out of 4 of puppies shipped to New York state pet stores came from dog brokers who buy puppies from licensed and unregulated breeders and resell the animals to stores.
\"We are hopeful that this enormous step by New York State may encourage other states to take similar action to stop the cruel commercial breeding industry from supplying pet stores within their borders,\" Matt Bershadker, the president and CEO of the ASPCA, said in a statement.
\"We have policies like this where everybody just makes the assumption that every single breeder that a pet store works with looks like the ones you see on TV that are filthy and the [dogs] are dying, and that just simply isn't the case,\" Emilio Ortiz, the manager of the New York pet store CitiPups, told NY1.
Puppies play in a cage at a pet store in Columbia, Md., in 2019. New York has become the latest state to ban the sale of cats, dogs, and rabbits in pet stores in an attempt to target commercial breeding operations. Maryland banned such sales in 2020. Jose Luis Magana/AP hide caption
Pet shops have argued that the law will do nothing to shut down out-of-state breeders or increase their standards of care and said it would result in the closures of the dozens of pet stores remaining in New York.
California enacted a similar law in 2017, becoming the first state to ban such sales. While that law requires pet stores to work with animal shelters or rescue operations, like New York is doing now, it does not regulate sales by private breeders.
A handful of states followed. In 2020, Maryland banned the sale of cats and dogs in pet stores, triggering pushback from shop owners and breeders who challenged the measure in court. A year later Illinois barred pet shops from selling commercially raised puppies and kittens.
In New York, pet advocacy groups have long called for a full shutdown of facilities that raise and sell animals for profit, saying animals are raised in inhumane conditions before they are shipped off to stores.
"Ninety percent of our business is selling dogs. We're not going to survive this," said Ortiz, who considers the ban unfair to stores that work with responsible breeders. "They're closing the good actors along with the bad actors."
"If a consumer went to a mill and saw the awful conditions, they wouldn't buy these animals," he said. "Dealing with a breeder allows people to see where their dog comes from, and it cuts off the middlemen that serve as a way to wash off the awful activities that take place at the mill."
The illnesses and congenital defects in these animals were found to be consistent with puppies that are purchased from puppy mills. The OAG investigation found thousands of puppies from known puppy mills that were shipped to both Shake A Paw locations on Long Island. Through financial records, the OAG found payments being made to known puppy mills by Shake A Paw. In fact, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) notified the OAG that the U.S. Department of Justice indicted a puppy mill breeder that supplied puppies to Shake A Paw. The information provided by the ASPCA directly linked Shake A Paw to obtaining puppies from puppy mills and not reputable breeders as advertised.
The OAG also obtained sworn testimony from a veterinarian that had a prior relationship with Shake A Paw, but ended this relationship due to their concern over the number of sick animals that were being sold by Shake A Paw, as well as other ethical concerns.
No Pet Store Puppies Day is celebrated on July 21 every year to raise public awareness of puppy mills and their connections to pet stores that sell puppies, kittens, and rabbits. The holiday also encourages people to adopt their best friend from a local shelter or rescue or to do their research and find a legitimate breeder.
Crop failures in the Midwest following World War II prompted the rise of puppy mills. Although it may be difficult to believe today, the United States Department of Agriculture (U.S.D.A.) actively promoted puppy mills as profitable and fail-safe companies. The government encouraged farmers to pack dogs into chicken coops and rabbit hutches and sell puppies to pet stores.
Most pet store puppies come from commercial dog breeding operations (also known as puppy mills), where profit comes before animal welfare. Dogs are often crammed into filthy, overcrowded, piled wire cages, where they are denied nutritious food, clean water, and basic veterinary care.
For a variety of reasons, pet store puppies can be more expensive than those from shelters and reputable breeders. First and foremost, pet shops are businesses that will sell a puppy for the highest possible price. Second, your puppy will almost certainly require more veterinarian care than the usual puppy.
No Pet Store Puppies Day promotes the adoption of animals into permanent homes where they will be safe and cherished. Because the breeding process is neglected in pet stores, puppy mill puppies typically have health issues and genetic flaws.
Volunteers from Bailing Out Benji devote their free time to researching puppy mills to create puppy mill maps for the worst states, as well as raise awareness about notorious pet stores and breeding operations with huge violations. This includes obtaining CVI data (Certificates of Veterinary Inspections) and making those reports public. To learn more about the puppy mills in your location, you can also go to our interactive website and search engine.
To make this easier, we will be breaking our research down alphabetically by each pet store and connecting them to the various facilities they use. All of this information has come from the Department of Agriculture and the USDA. All of the breeders listed as associated with the pet stores sold puppies or kittens to them in the years 2021, 2020 and 2019.
To those consumers that have bought a family member from any of the area puppy stores, and are wondering about their actual background -please feel free to fill out the form below with any questions or paperwork that you have and we will confidentially research the breeder your pup came from.
Buyers should be aware that an implied warranty of merchantability only applies to sales from merchants. This term means someone who deals in goods of the kind or someone who holds him or herself out to have a particular knowledge in the field. Again, this will be determined by the factual circumstances of the sale. Generally, a merchant in the pet world is limited to a retail pet shop, a breeder, or someone who routinely sells multiple litters of puppies. A neighbor down the road who has to unexpectedly sell a litter of puppies from his dog will not be considered a merchant. (For a more detailed discussion of merchants, click here .)
The answer to this question, like just about any question in law, depends on where you live. Approximately eighteen states have laws or administrative regulations that dictate how old a puppy must be before it is offered for sale or adopted out to an owner. Of those states with laws, all but one require that a puppy be at least eight weeks old before being offered for sale (See Pennsylvania and Nebraska , for example). Virginia mandates that a puppy be at least seven weeks old. Other states focus on the separation of the puppy or kitten from its mother in addition to specifying a minimum age. Nevada's recently amended law provides that a retailer, dealer, or operator shall not separate a dog or cat from its mother until it is 8 weeks of age "or accustomed to taking food or nourishment other than by nursing . , whichever is later." [emphasis added]. Likewise, Illinois also phrases its law with the idea that a puppy or kitten shall not be "separated from its mother" until the puppy or kitten has attained the age of 8 weeks. 041b061a72