A Ban on Selling Puppies in Pet Stores Gets PETA’s Vote
For Immediate Release:
October 19, 2022
Contact:
Nicole Meyer 202-483-7382
As the New Braunfels City Council considers an ordinance that would prohibit pet stores from selling dogs and cats obtained from commercial breeders, PETA sent a letter this morning to the council’s members and Mayor Rusty Brockman urging them to vote in favor of the ban to help not only animals but also their constituents and the city’s bottom line.
The ordinance aims to stop abuse in puppy mills, which includes confining mother dogs to cramped metal-floored cages and using them as breeding machines until their bodies give out. Many puppies from such facilities suffer from diseases and inbreeding that mean high veterinary bills for unsuspecting consumers. “Purebred” and “designer” dogs typically are afflicted with uncomfortable or painful genetic conditions. For example, French bulldogs, pugs, and other flat-faced dogs—called “breathing-impaired breeds” due to a debilitating and sometimes fatal condition called brachycephalic syndrome—have restricted airways that cause them to struggle to breathe, which is a leading cause of death in these breeds.
Area animal shelters are full to bursting with adoptable dogs who don’t find homes as a result of pet store operations, and the cost of running those shelters takes a toll on the city budget. Puppy mills continually produce more litters even though approximately 70 million dogs and cats are homeless in the U.S. at any given time.
“Those puppies in the pet shop window commonly begin life in massive breeding mills, where they’re taken from their mothers prematurely, exposed to diseases, and shipped off to make a quick buck,” says PETA Senior Vice President of Cruelty Investigations Daphna Nachminovitch. “PETA members across Texas are encouraging New Braunfels’ leadership to protect dogs, consumers, and the city’s coffers by voting ‘yes’ on this important ordinance.”
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
