Middle ground elusive in debate over proposed pet store ban
(Photo courtesy Humane World for Animals)
Politicians, government officials, animal activists, and shelter operators pleaded Tuesday with state lawmakers to advance legislation that would prohibit the retail sale of pets in Nevada, while pet store owners warned the measure would put them out of business.
'Public records show that Nevada pet shops import puppies from awful Midwestern puppy mills that no consumer would knowingly support,' testified Rebecca Goff of Humane World for Animals, formerly the Humane Society of the United States, which released an undercover investigation earlier this year that traced puppies sold in Nevada pet stores to puppy mills.
The bill is named for Cindy Lou, a dog that died after its medical needs were neglected by a Las Vegas pet store, according to the investigation.
'Breeding dogs are treated like breeding machines with no regard for their wellness,' Goff said of puppy mills. 'Under USDA standards, they can be kept stacked in wire cages that are only six inches longer than their bodies for their entire lives. They could be bred repeatedly until their bodies wear out, and then they can be killed.'
Christy Stevens, executive director and founder of Hearts Alive Animal Clinic, says retail puppy stores flout animal welfare laws and were implicated in two forensic investigations and necropsies (animal autopsies) conducted last year by Hearts Alive.
'In one case, a woman who had been repeatedly sold Yorkie puppies by a pet store was later found to be hoarding animals in appalling conditions,' Stevens told members of the Senate Natural Resources Committee. 'Despite the stores knowing that the puppies were dying in her care, they continued to sell her puppy after puppy, Seventeen dead Yorkies were later discovered in her freezers. This is not an isolated incident. It is evidence of a system where profit is prioritized over animal welfare.'
In the second case, authorities found close to 200 dogs, birds, and guinea pigs in a home, hotel room, and vehicle belonging to a Las Vegas couple, and 66 were dead. Dozens of the animals were purchased from the Petland store in Summerlin, where employees were aware of the multiple purchases, testified Gina Greisen of Nevada Voters for Animals.
But opponents, primarily industry representatives, complained the legislation would unfairly punish all stores, even those that contend they obtain puppies and kittens from reputable breeders.
'In New York and in California, 93 to 95% of all of the pet stores that were affected and impacted by a pet sale ban closed,' testified Alyssa Miller, a lobbyist for the Pet Advocacy Network, a trade association that represents pet stores. 'The idea that someone can just shift a business model is misleading and is also unrealistic.'
PAN is also represented by Nevada lobbyist Alisa Nave, whose family business owns more than a dozen veterinary clinics that serve the same rescue organizations that support the pet store sales ban. Nave declined to comment.
Former Republican State Sen. Warren Hardy, a lobbyist representing Humane World for Animals, told lawmakers that given the failure of the federal government to adequately regulate or shut down puppy mills, there's no room for compromise. 'After 12 years of trying, there's no middle ground on this. This is our option.'
Eight states, including the entire West Coast and some 500 municipalities, including Clark County, Reno, North Las Vegas, and Mesquite, have prohibited retail pet sales.
The majority of pet stores in Nevada, including national retailers Petco and Petsmart, already do not sell puppies, but 'thrive as part of the $147 billion pet products and service industry,' noted Goff.
'We're in a time when we are cutting government personnel at all levels and agencies,' observed Jill Dobbs, executive director of the SPCA of Northern Nevada. 'It is not reasonable to expect there to just be regulations that can be enforced on these businesses.'
The Nevada Assembly approved the measure, Assembly Bill 487, following a hearing last month. Without passage by a Senate committee this week, the bill will die.
Goff confirms she was told by Senate Democrats to line up the votes to pass the contentious and emotionally-charged measure out of committee if she wanted a hearing. Democratic Committee Chair Michelee Cruz-Crawford, fellow Democratic Vice-Chair Melanie Scheible, and the caucus spokesperson would not respond to questions about the ultimatum, which negates the purpose of a legislative hearing.
The hearing appeared on the legislative schedule Monday, after inquiries from news media.
The Animal Foundation (TAF), Southern Nevada's primary government-supported shelter, announced publicly Tuesday the facility is currently housing more than 1,000 animals, including 547 dogs, and is on the brink of killing animals to make room for more.
Shelters in the U.S. euthanized more than 1 million dogs and cats in 2016, according to Best Friends Animal Society. Last year, that number dropped to below half a million.
'Roughly 7 million people in America are planning to acquire a pet this year, and if just 6 percent more people chose to adopt versus purchase their pets, we would end the killing of dogs and cats in our nation's shelters,' said Julie Castle, the organization's CEO.
'We're in a critical capacity crisis, and are making urgent pleas to the public to adopt and foster,' TAF's CEO Hilarie Grey told lawmakers. 'Right now, we have terriers, Labradors, French and English bulldogs, Aussies, poodles, Cocker Spaniels, even a Papillon.'
'There's no need to continue supporting the puppy mill pipeline, but there's great need for ethical businesses to partner with shelters and rescues to promote adoption while selling pet supplies or services,' Grey testified. 'Sign us up. We will gladly bring puppies and kittens.'
Clark County taxpayers spend more than $10 million a year supporting TAF, Commissioner Michael Naft testified, in addition to spending millions more on animal control and code enforcement, 'all with the goal of shelter diversion. We know that pets that come from pet stores end up disproportionately higher in shelters and at our rescues, and we need to put an end to that.'
Clark County resident Casey Kern testified there is 'no justification for allowing the sale of commercially-bred animals while healthy, adoptable cats and dogs are being euthanized simply because there aren't enough loving, responsible homes and they cannot be warehoused indefinitely.
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