Missouri lawmaker wants to limit local control over pet stores

Sen. Justin Brown, R-Rolla, filed a proposal earlier this week that would prevent local officials from adopting or enforcing a regulation that prohibits the operation of a state-licensed pet shop.

It comes as six states and hundreds of cities and counties have enacted ordinances that have forced pet stores to collaborate with rescue organizations to sell or show adoptable cats and dogs, rather than purchase puppies raised by breeders.

Those bans could have significant repercussions on Missouri dog breeders.

In a study released last year, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals found that 43% of the puppies shipped to New York pet stores arrive from Missouri, which is home to hundreds of commercial dog breedersthe largest number of any state in the U.S.

In 2018, the Missouri Department of Agriculture said there were 893 licensed breeders in the state, up from about 785 in 2015.

But cities and states have been banning the sale of dogs, cats and rabbits in retail pet stores amid concerns that pet stores are stocked with animals bred and possibly abused in “puppy mills.”

Under a New York law approved in December, retail stores that previously sold pets can still operate and sell pet supplies and other accessories. They also can charge shelters and rescue groups rent to use their space for adoptions.

Store owners face a $1,000 fine for violating the new rules.

California was the first state to implement a ban in 2019. Washington, Maine, Maryland and Illinois also have prohibitions in place.

Brown did not respond to a request for comment, but his legislation mirrors a proposal introduced in Indiana this year with the backing of Petland, a national pet store brand that maintains it does not purchase animals from mass-breeding facilities.

On Jan. 9, just days after the Missouri Legislature began its annual spring session, Petland hired the powerful lobbying firm of Gamble & Schlemeier to represent them in the Capitol.

Elizabeth Kunzelman, vice president of government affairs for Petland, told the Post-Dispatch that pet stores should have the freedom to keep their businesses.

“Animal rights activists continue to push retail pet store bans as the only answer to puppy mills. These are people who operate in the shadows to dodge animal welfare standards. But states like California and Illinois have found banning pet stores doesn’t actually stop puppy mills, it fuels them,” Kunzelman said.

“That’s because store bans eliminate the most transparent source of pets: a community store accountable to consumer protections, health codes, and elite standards in breeding. Our franchise owners are small businesses who bring pets and people together, abide by all animal health care codes, and put much care into their customers and employees. They should have the freedom to keep their business,” she added.

Cody Atkinson, the Missouri chapter director of the Humane Society of the United States said the bill “is a bad solution to a nonexistent problem in the state of Missouri.”

“No city in our state has attempted to regulate pet stores beyond state statute and this bill would handcuff local governments’ ability to respond at the community level to concerns of our citizens,” Atkinson said. “We do not believe an out-of-state business with direct ties to puppy mills for the past several decades should be dictating what we can and can’t do in the Show-Me State.”

The legislation is Senate Bill 530.