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Feb. 23, 2018 By Tara Law
Pet store owners would be prohibited from selling dogs and cats that have come from puppy mills should a senate bill introduced by Mike Gianaris (D-Astoria) become law.
The legislation, introduced in the state senate on Feb. 9, would only allow stores to sell dogs and cats that have come from bona fide rescue agencies or shelters.
The legislation does not have a sponsor in the State Assembly at this time, although one is expected.
Pet stores would be limited as to the amount they could charge consumers for the dogs and cats. The limit would be about the same as the adoption fees normally charged by the shelters.
The bill aims to put puppy mills and breeding farms out of business, since they would have no end buyers.
Pets at puppy mills are often confined to dirty cages. Female pets are bred over and over again often producing unhealthy puppies and kittens, critics say.
“These animals are often mistreated from the moment of birth and are afflicted with serious health problems throughout their lives,” Gianaris’ bill says of puppy mills.
Mike Gianaris
“While our animal shelters house perfectly healthy and adoptable animals, they struggle to compete with designer animals bred by puppy mills. This proposal would end the cruelty that these animals face, and find homes for deserving, healthy and loving animals.”
Pet stores that violate the law would be at risk of having their pet dealing license denied, suspended or revoked.
The law would exclude breeders that sell fewer than 25 animals that were born and raised in their residence directly to the pet buyer.
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23 Comments
we can provide them a best place to stay which is whelping box for such dogs. Dog mill is very cruel. Adopt such dog and give them a best place at your home. more information on https://www.caninewhelpingbox.com/
Does this extend to Sunnyside? We have a pet store on 46th St bet the Blvd & Greenpoint Ave. that is selling dogs from mills in Missouri. I’ve seen the deliveries more than once.
Finally someone in NY making a stand against puppy mills. Every person should be supporting this action. I have suffered the loss of my 2 1/2 month old German Shepherd puppy after owning her for one week. She came from American Dog Club from a so called “breeder” which is actually a puppy mill. They don’t tell you the truth & they don’t care about the well being of dogs. My girl was in kidney failure when she was purchased & spent her final days in a hospital where they tried to get her well. She was my birthday gift. No one saw she wasn’t well in the store, no one tried to get her help??It took me hours to see she was sick. Mia would of had a better chance at recovery if she was hospitalized sooner. In restrosoect, I’m sure they wouldn’t have spent the time or money to get her well because it’s all about the bottom line for them. NEVER BUY a puppy from a pet store and this is coming from an owner of a pet supply store. Please educate everyone about where these puppies really come from. It’s all heartbreaking. Take your time, research, adopt or go to a REPUTABLE breeder who actually cares about preserving the quality of the breed.
I am fine with this bill. However as dog owner (who saved a puppy from a mill), I know that dogs coming from puppy mills can be rehabilitated, recovered and be given pleasurable, normal, decent, soulful and LOVE filled lives in proper homes. There is hope for dogs who are lucky enough to be taken away from the animal mill industry.
When you buy a pet-store puppy, you know nothing about the health or temperament of the parents. You have no connection to the breeder of the dog, no resource to go to if you have questions or problems a few months or years from now. But perhaps most important, when you buy a pet-store puppy, you contribute to the demand for puppy-mill-bred puppies, and add to the cycle of misery of mill-owned breeding dogs.
You are no different than the abuser.
No, you did not save that puppy. You literally just allowed another shelter animal to die and you allowed the pet store to place another order.
CONSUMERS are just as bad as the Puppy Millers when they choose to ignore the truths and buy pet store puppies anyway.
Every single pet store in NYC and Long Island is selling animals from USDA Commerically Licensed aka Puppy Mills where animals live a life of misery in substandard conditions then killed. Pet stores are selling defective products while deceiving consumers. To learn more: Read and be informed https://www.aspca.org/animal-cruelty/puppy-mills/closer-look-puppy-mills
Animals are not commodities. These pet stores are making money off the backs of suffering animals. They only pay a few hundred for dogs and sell to consumers for thousands. This is an Animal issue and a Consumer issue. ANY laws passed to better protect both are good laws.
To those that choose to remain ignorant or post negative or deflecting comments, you need to find your souls.
Now that we took care of the Chihuahua problem in Astoria can we focus on stopping and getting rid of some bad hombres.
I think this is a wonderful Idea. Puppy mills need to be done away with altogether. Shelter animals are in greater need of homes than puppies shipped into New York from any puppy mill anywhere.
Its not the animals fault were they were born. They need homes too! There are bad apples in every bunch. I do not know what to feel about this bill. Its like having a bill not to adopt infants who are at risk.
This is a GREAT BILL. Shut down the puppy mills and the animals will NOT be born. These puppies are indiscriminately bred, not taking into account, indigenous to breed conditions which may ultimately make a puppy suffer or die. Most of these puppy mills in our region are in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Once the current supply of animals is gone, without being able to buy from puppy mills, the mills have no one to sell these abused animals to. I know firsthand from a bad experience where these animals come from. My husband bought me a “designer” dog from a “boutique” puppy store in Bayside, NY. the dog died 4 days after we got him, and he was not a purebred as so many of these “designer” dogs are. $1500 for a Maltipoo which is a MIX, not a purebreed. He was not showing any signs of illness until we had him home for 2 days and then he died on Christmas day at noon. Nice, huh? I researched his lineage and he came from a puppy mill in Pennsylvania. Put these horrible people out of business. Too many people use the same line, “what about the dogs already born?” If you put these people out of business, these dogs already born will go to shelters to be adopted, the store will be empty, and the supply of abused animals will end! These stores will be forced to buy ONLY from reputable breeders, who, for the most part, NEVER sell their animals to such horrible stores. I you want a certain breed, search a shelter. If you can’t find it there, go to a reputable breeder. They do NOT breed their females every season as the mills do. Most of those animals are born in a breeders home, and cared for very well, given vet care immediately, and they don’t make money on these animals. no matter what you may think. Vet care takes up most of the money that you pay for when preparing a litter for sale. Even before the breeding takes place, good breeders have their animals tested for conditions that may be indigenous to the breed in both the sire and the dam so that they don’t produce a litter of puppies that will ultimately suffer from debilitating conditions. I also know firsthand, because my sister is one of those responsible breeders. Her animals only produce a litter about once every 3-4 years, if she spots a dog that is exceptional, and whose qualities will help produce exceptional puppies. It is very controlled and only happens to perpetuate the line. Breeders sell both pet quality and show quality animals, depending on how the animals meet AKC Breed Standards. You will NEVER see a show quality purebred in a pet store! Not from a responsible breeder who controls breeding and doesn’t abuse animals. Their breeding animals are their pets. They live in good conditions. They are not abused or sick. Stop the puppy mills already. If you are not interested in a show quality animal and just want a companion animal, get to a shelter and adopt your forever friend. If you want a particular breed and want to know it’s lineage especially in regard to temperament, and not to pass on certain conditions that may be indigenous to the breed, go to a reputable home breeder.
TL/DNR
No, it’s not the animal’s fault. Commercial dog/cat breeding is a supply and demand business. When people buy they create the demand. That means more parents dogs are trapped in stacked dirty wire cages with wire floors that only need to be 6″ larger than the size of their body for their entire lives per the Animal Welfare Act. They never get groomed, see the vet or step on grass. Their sole purpose in life is to make cute, little fluffy puppies for consumers that won’t know how the parents live or see the cruelty they supported by purchasing their puppy. It’s nothing like “having a bill not to adopt infants who are at risk”. It’s to stop the flow of puppies from puppy mills. It’s to help end the inhumane breeding of USDA large-scale commercial breeding of dogs.
Spot on!
It doesn’t matter if Astoria has puppy mills. The point is puppies and kittens are shipped via a big transport company in Missouri. This company, Puppy Travelers, LLC., has had many complaints and the puppies are exposed to parvo, kennel cough, etc. The uneducated consumer buys the sick puppy, the puppy dies and the consumer is left with a huge vet bill and no puppy. This is a consumer protection issue as well as an animal welfare issue. Google ‘Puppy Mills’. See the photos of the parents of these pet store puppies in their tiny filthy cages. This happens all across America, Every. Single. Day.
Spot on Again!
Finally! Something to smile for people!! Whatever you mentioned in these comments has by far been getting fixed or already in process so sit down and listen to the new bill. Thank you Gianaris Bill and Astoria!
I felt the same way while reading this story on the weekend but then I turned on the tv and saw the shooting that happened on Steinway. It was all over the news and makes it hard to smile about anything around here lately with all the bad press.
Biggest issue in Astoria,
1- Trains/buses
2-Traffic
3-Crime
4-Overcrowding
5-Parking
I never see them work on any of this stuff.
Let’s focus on Puppys and taking away a billboard.
Apples & Oranges.
Let’s not deflect on the subject matter.
Harry, if you are passionate about seeing improvement with:
Trains/Buses, Traffic, Crime, Overcrowding, Parking…By all means spearhead something.
Enough of us have been fighting this fight and our voices are finally being heard. I stand behind Senator Gianaris 1000% on this step toward a more Humane NY. ?
What pet store is selling dogs and cats that have come from puppy mills in Astoria? Can we focus on school safety, crime, transportation and housing in Astoria?
Multiple things are possible, Ted.
most of them are?
And yes, we can focus on many different things at one time.
This is a senate bill therefore not only for Astoria.
Go into any pet store, become interested in a particular animal and ask to see the pedigree from that animal, and research the kennel. You will find that the “kennel” is a puppy mill. Doesn’t matter what store in what neighborhood. This “business” is so dirty! It is so cruel. What you see i the store is a cleaned up version of where they REALLY came from.