A major win for animal rescue lovers who say pet stores need to be stopped. Pet stores in Phoenix, Arizona have to change the way they do business.It’s now mandatory for them to only sell rescues, and other cities around the country are following the trend, saying they want to crack down on bad breeders and decrease animal euthanasia and overpopulation.”I would never rule out the possibility,” says Heather Clyde at homeward Animal Shelter. She hopes the area would consider making it mandatory for pet stores to only sell rescues.”Puppy mills are looking to move their puppies in mass quantities, and pet stores are looking to get a really good deal on puppies that are coming in mass quantities so the only people who are going to do that type of thing are puppy mills.” She says it would run bad breeders out of business, create less homeless animals, and less animals would be put down.Adding, it wouldn’t put pet stores out of business either. “I think they would be perfectly fine adopting out animals,” says Clyde. “Yes, it’s different for them, and it’s going to be a loss of income. But, they are going to get more supporters and people in their buying products if they know they are supporting adoptions.”We spoke with a dog breeder out of Ulen, Minnesota who says a law would be going too far. “I think it would be detrimental to the dog industry, because there are many breeders out there that do sell to the pet stores. I personally do not sell to the pet stores.” She says pet stores should sell both rescues and from breeders. Saying there’s a huge demand for puppies, and most rescues are older dogs. “Some breeders are just in it for the money, but there are a lot of responsible breeders, no matter what rule they put out there will ever stop all the bad,” she says.Although another local dog breeder tells us he would like a law like this, saying no reputable breeder would ever sell to a pet store. “Pet stores are there to make money, and they don’t care who buys these dogs if they are going to a great home or not,”PetSmart already operates as pet adoption for rescues. There is only one other pet store in the area, at the West Acres Mall. They declined to comment on this story.
Source: Multiple cities mandating pet stores only sell rescues
