West Hollywood bans most pet store puppy and kitty sales

West Hollywood, California
examiner.com

Animal welfare activists call it a major victory in animal rights after The West Hollywood City Council voted unanimously to approve new legislation that makes it illegal for pet stores within its city limits to profit from the sales of most puppies and kittens.

Under the ban, which takes effect later this year, pet stores will be permitted to offer animals from local shelters rather than those purchased from for-profit breeders.

That business model has been implemented in recent years by several L.A.-area pet stores, including Orange Bone, a Melrose Avenue shop.

This move is seen as a major victory by activists who see it as an early step in the fight to end the biting problem of puppy mills.

“This definitely calls for champagne,” said Carole Raphaelle Davis, West Coast director of the Companion Animal Protection Society. “We’re definitely taking this fight to Los Angeles. We want all of the stores citywide to go humane.”

The famously liberal-minded West Hollywood has been at the forefront of the animal protection movement for more than eight years.

In 2002, it amended its city code to refer to animals like dogs and cats as “companions” rather than “pets.” Then in 2003, it officially prohibited the de-clawing of cats, becoming the first city in the U.S. to implement such a ban.

Several other California cities followed suit in 2009.

“People outside of the city roll their eyes and tell us we’re silly,” said Councilman Jeffrey Prang, who sponsored the new law. “You only have to look at the amount of abuse that takes place in order to see that these efforts are not silly.”

The Companion Animal Protection Society brought evidence to the City Council last year that suggested an area pet store was selling puppies obtained from Russia and from a puppy mill in Minnesota. After repeated protests by the organization, the store stopped selling the puppies. The incident apparently brought the puppy-mill issue to the forefront of the council’s consciousness.

RELATED: No Kill Advocacy Movement