By Meredith Ayan, Executive Director
Animal shelters across the nation house thousands of dogs and cats in need of loving homes. That’s why I am heartened by the newly proposed New York State Senate Bill that would ban pet stores from selling dogs, cats and rabbits. Instead, pet stores would be encouraged to offer spaces to local shelters to showcase available rescue animals.
This is an exciting opportunity for the state of New York and other states that may enact similar legislation. Just imagine, instead of walking by a pet store window and seeing puppies and kittens for sale, we’ll see dogs and cats available for adoption. Coupled with strong federal regulations to combat puppy and kitty mills, legislation like this could change the way Americans acquire pets.
Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, D-Manhattan sponsored the bill and says, “by ensuring that pet stores can offer only rescues for adoption, this legislation will protect consumers, help to shut down the mills and end the puppy to-pet store pipeline,”
New York would join Maryland, California and hundreds of U.S. cities with similar legislation already in place. You can read the bill and follow it here: https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2019/s4234