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Pet stores in at least 35 U.S. cities have taken an animal protection group's pledge not to sell puppies and to educate potential buyers about adoption. Hundreds of pet shop owners around the nation have already removed puppies from their store windows and some cities and towns are considering tough laws banning the sale of puppies, kittens and other small animals.
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The "puppy-friendly pet store" pledge is being promoted by the Humane Society of the United States, the country's largest animal advocacy organization.
"These stores have set a positive example of corporate responsibility for other businesses to follow," said Stephanie Shain, who directs the society's anti-puppy mill campaign. "Pet stores that profit from the cruel puppy mill industry need to step up and do the right thing by stopping their puppy sales. Shelters and rescues are brimming with all types of dogs in need of homes."
This month, the West Hollywood City Council voted unanimously to ban sales of most kittens and puppies at pet stores and the City of San Francisco is debating a much broader ordinance.
In West Hollywood, Calif., which in 2002 amended its city code to refer to dogs and cats as companions rather than pets, pet stores would be allowed to sell animals obtained from local Southern California shelters, but not animals from commercial breeders.
A proposed San Francisco measure that would make it illegal to sell all pets, except fish -- including dogs, cats, hamsters, mice, birds, snakes, lizards, geckos, gerbils and guinea pigs -- was tabled after four hours of debate, but will be considered Aug. 12 at a fourth hearing of the Commission of Animal Control on the controversial issue.
San Francisco already bans sales of rabbits and chicks, USA Today said.
"People buy small animals all the time as an impulse buy, don't know what they're getting into, and the animals end up at a shelter and often are euthanized, commission chairwoman Sally Stephens told the San Francisco Chronicle. "That's what we'd like to stop."
Critics say the San Francisco law as written goes way beyond a pledge not to sell animals from exploitative puppy or kitten mills. Some say maybe a "cooling off period" requiring a deposit should be required before someone can purchase a pet on impulse. Others say a ban on all pet sales will only drive the pet trade underground creating a black market hurting legitimate pet stores.
Not surprisingly, most pet shop owners oppose proposals that would force people to leave San Francisco to find a pet. Private animal sales using classified ads and from shelter and rescue organizations would still be permitted.
"What difference does it make if you get a parrot at the SPCA or a pet store?" asked Joe Taylor, manager of Animals Connection in San Francisco. "If it doesn't work out, in either case, you just bring it back."
The Chronicle said only a handful of pet stores in the city currently sell puppies and kittens and that hamsters remain the No. 1 animal impulse buy.
As a child, I had a hamster named Clyde, a parakeet named Lucky, and two turtles in my room and quickly learned that hamsters are nocturnal creatures that like to run all night in their wheels. My mom came up with some Q-tips and a bottle of sweet mineral oil to lubricate Clyde's squeaking wheel.
"Ride, Clyde, ride," we'd say as oil was applied to the wheel and quiet was restored at 2 a.m.
However, there is no hamster rescue group and most unwanted rodents are euthanized.
"It's definitely a concern," Rebecca Katz, director of San Francisco Animal Care and Control, told the newspaper.
Still, there's no argument about the shocking and appalling conditions in puppy mills, which breed millions of animals annually, many with serious health and behavioral problems. Breeding animals often are abused and abandoned as they get older and less productive, and puppies often grow up in small cramped cages or kennels with little or no socialization or human companionship.
The humane society says about 3,000 of the 9,000 independent U.S. pet stores sell puppies, many via attractive Web sites on the Internet.
"They see this cute little puppy in a cage, but they're not seeing the living quarters and the upbringing and the element they are raised in," Kim O'Brien, co-owner of The Uppity Puppy in Oakland, Mich., told The Daily Tribune.
