Christie Lagally

While the rise of puppy mills and retail pet sales in the decades after WWII was a set back for animal welfare progress, the tide has shifted in the last few years.  In general, puppy mills and pet stores selling animals have been unwilling to act ethically and humanely and to stop the ripple of problems and cruelty they cause by indiscriminately breeding and selling dogs, cats, rabbits and other pet store animals.

It’s very sad that cities, like Richmond, BC in Canada or West Hollywood in the US, must actually ban such blatantly cruel practices in order to stop the activities of Hunte Corporation and other such puppy mills and puppy distributors.  Meanwhile, you would think that people who work with dogs in these pet stores  would see the harm they are causing, and make changes to stop retail sales.  But change is not coming from within the pet stores or the animals mills.

And so it goes, on Tuesday, June 7th, the Los Angeles City Council voted to draft a bylaw to ban the sale of dogs, cats, rabbits and chickens.   Los Angeles’ department of animal services has been directed to draft the law, which would affect around 100 pet stores selling animals according to dvm350.com.  Councilman Paul Koretz proposed initiative, and the decision to draft the bylaw was unanimously voted in by his fellow council members.   Yippee!   I can’t wait to see the bylaw!!!  See one article here.

Back in October 2010, a reporter for CTV asked me (after the vote  for Richmond to ban the sale of dogs in pet stores), “Who are the winners from tonight’s vote?”   After a 3-hour of city council meeting, I simply answered that the dogs who were saved were the real winners.  But as I’ve thought about that question these last few months, I’ve come up with some very different answers.  The real winners from banning the sale of animals in retail outlets are the pet store owners and puppy mills themselves.  Because while most of us want to do ‘what’s right’, apparently for some people it’s easier to be blinded by greed  while staring directly at animal cruelty.    The real winners were the pet store owners and the puppy mills who, when being unwilling to make the ethical choice to stop their practices, are having that choice made for them — just like in Los Angeles, Richmond, BC, South Lake Tahoe, Albuquerque, Hermosa Beach, CA, Lake Worth, FL, and the list will get longer… thankfully.

Today we celebrate those people who are fighting the good fight to progress the state of animal welfare.  Thank you!