Pet sale limits urged
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/s...ll26.eb53.html
LEGISLATION: A bill would require more fees and restrictions on those
peddling cats and dogs.
Assembly Bill 2513, which could go to the state Senate this week, would
require people who sell dogs or cats that are not spayed or neutered to:
Buy a seller's permit.
Include permit numbers in advertisements.
Vaccinate the animals.
Sell only animals that are at least 8 weeks old.
Not sell animals on public property or at public sales events.
Source: California Legislature
People who sell dogs and cats in California face $1,000 permit fees and
tighter controls if lawmakers adopt a bill that is moving through the
Legislature.
AB 2513 would help stem pet overpopulation by holding sellers of dogs and cats
that have not been spayed or neutered responsible, said the bill's author,
Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys.
The legislation also would require sellers to vaccinate animals, stop
peddlling them at public places and include permit numbers in advertisements.
"You don't have a God-given right to breed a dog and do what you want with a
litter," Levine said.
The pet industry, the California Animal Control Directors Association and the
California Veterinary Medicine Association say the requirements would be
unfair to pet sellers and too cumbersome for local animal control agencies.
"I think it's bad to treat everyone as a commercial entity when they aren't,"
said Michael Maddox of the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council, a Washington,
D.C.-based lobby.
The council objects to the permit requirement and the cost to sellers.
"There is no pet overpopulation problem, per se," Maddox said.
People who support the bill, however, say California does have too many
unwanted pets.
"We've been killing animals too long as a means to control the problem," said
Priscilla Gargalis, co-director of the California Lobby for Animal Welfare, or
CLAW. "We have to go after the people who are breeding."
Gargalis said CLAW decided to sponsor a bill after The Press-Enterprise
series, "Disposable Lives," found that shelter workers killed more than 72,000
dogs and cats in Inland animal shelters in 2002.
"I knew there was a problem, but after reading that, I knew we had to do
something about it," Gargalis said.
Levine's bill "will deter some people from selling animals to make a quick
buck," she said.
Local governments, not the state, should regulate pet sales, said Dick
Schumacher, California Veterinary Medicine Association executive director.
Animal control agencies already are overburdened without the permitting
requirement, he said.
Many local governments already have laws to control pet breeders and sellers.
Riverside County ordinances require people with at least five dogs or 10 cats
to buy a kennel license. The county forbids the sale of pets on public streets
and sidewalks and in parks.
The veterinary group also opposes the bill's presale vaccination requirement,
because it would interfere with the relationship between a veterinarian, a
client and the pet, Schumacher said.
"The goal is to get every animal into a loving home as soon as you can," he
said, adding puppies or kittens sold at seven weeks may be too young for the
shots.
The bill, however, would forbid the sale of pets younger than 8 weeks old.
Smugglers have been bringing puppies as young as 4 weeks old from Mexico to
supply sellers who peddle the pups in parking lots and public places. The
problem in Southern California is growing, authorities say.
Last week, the Riverside County Animal Services Department raided three
residences, confiscating 50 sick and dying puppies, many believed to be from
Mexico.
Careless breeders are part of the problem, too, said Pat Dunaway of the Pet
Assistance Foundation, which helps people pay to spay or neuter their pets.
People find it hard to resist puppies, regardless of the sellers' credentials,
she said.
"They come to a swap meet and say, 'Oh, how cute,' and take one home," she
said.
"They haven't even thought about it."
After the puppies and kittens grow up, many owners lose interest and turn them
over to public shelters, according to surveys by humane organizations.
Levine said breeders, too, take puppies to the pound if they can't sell them.
"Then they breed some more," he said.
"And it starts again. It's a common pattern."
Taxpayers, he said, end up footing the bill for housing, feeding and
ultimately killing the unwanted pets that enter shelters across the state.
