ANN ARBOR, MI — Ann Arbor authorities are taking actions to enact a brand-new law to promote gentle family pet acquisitions and taking a stand versus breeding operations such as puppy mills.
“This ordinance, if passed, would mean that no pet store in Ann Arbor shall offer for sale or dispose of dogs, cats, ferrets, rabbits, long-lived birds or large reptiles,” said Council Member Dharma Akmon, D-4th Ward.
City Council voted all Monday night, June 5, to offer the preliminary okay to the regulation proposed by Akmon.
It now waits for last approval June 20.
City authorities are not knowledgeable about any shops in Ann Arbor offering the animals noted that are grated, Akmon said.
“So, what this ordinance really does is ensure that no pet store ever does this practice in the future,” she said.
Akmon said a lady concerned her very first coffee hour in November, asking if she’d think about a regulation to stop pet sales in shops.
“I didn’t know a lot about this issue, but I learned through my conversations with her and through the director of the Huron Valley Humane Society that there’s no oversight at the state or federal level on pet breeding conditions,” Akmon said.
“This means that a significant number of puppies, kittens and rabbits sold at pet shops are sourced from large-scale commercial breeding facilities, also known as puppy mills, kitten mills, rabbit mills, etc.,” she said. “They don’t adequately provide for the health and the welfare of animals.”
Ann Arbor homeowner Emily Scroggie spoke in assistance of the regulation Monday, stating family pet shops typically offer puppies with incorrect pledges of humane sourcing and health.
“Puppy-selling pet stores are a part of a greater pipeline which funnels sick and inhumanely bred puppies into the hands of consumers,” she said. “This system completely lacks transparency and puppy purchasers don’t know what cruelty they are supporting, which is puppy mills or commercial breeding facilities with recorded animal welfare violations and hundreds of dogs confined to small cages for the entirety of their lives.”
Akmon mentioned price quotes from the Humane Society of the United States that approximately 10,000 puppy mills produce more than 2.4 million puppies each year in the U.S. which many dogs, cats and bunnies at family pet shops originate from mills.
“The documented abuses include overbreeding, inbreeding, minimal to nonexistent veterinary care, lack of adequate and nutritious food, water and shelter, lack of socialization, lack of adequate space and lack of adequate exercise,” she said.
The city’s proposed regulation is imitated a 2019 Washtenaw County resolution that offered regional towns with a design family pet acquisition regulation, Akmon said.
It would not avoid a family pet store from offering space or care to rescued animals or impact a customer’s capability to get a dog, cat, bunny or ferret of their option straight from a breed-specific rescue organization, a shelter or a breeder where the customer can straight see conditions in which animals are reproduced.
Assistant City Attorney Matthew Thomas assisted prepare the regulation for factor to consider.
“Requiring pet stores to source animals from shelters and rescue organizations is likely to decrease the demand for puppies, kittens, rabbits and ferrets bred in pet mills,” his memo accompanying the regulation states. “Sourcing from shelters and rescues will likely reduce pet overpopulation and thus the burden on state and local agencies which fund shelters and rescues, and financial costs on local taxpayers.”
No pet store requires to offer dogs to be lucrative and they can prosper simply by offering family pet owners with whatever they require to take care of their animals, which is the design already followed by the large bulk of family pet shops in Michigan, Scroggie said.
“Six states and over 460 localities have prohibited the sale of dogs and cats in pet stores, including Eastpointe, Fraser, New Baltimore, Royal Oak, Harbor Springs, St. Clare Shores and newly Woodhaven here in Michigan,” she said. “These laws have shrunk demand for puppies bred in cruel conditions, with public records showing 32,000 fewer breeding dogs in USDA-licensed puppy mills than 10 years ago.”
MORE FROM THE ANN ARBOR NEWS:
Ann Arbor dissolves downtown main park advisory group
Ann Arbor to offer choose families $528 a month in surefire earnings for 2 years
‘As long as the animals survive.’ Ann Arbor female’s home was destroyed, however her animals lived
Developers propose switching 2 houses for 76-unit apartment building in Dexter
Meet the entertainers behind Ann Arbor’s drag scene
