Dallas City Council, in the US southern state of Texas, has passed an ordinance to ban the sale of puppies and kittens in pet shops, which was proposed by animal protection organisations back in December 2020. The Dallas Humane Pet Store Ordinance, passed unanimities on 11th May 2022 but which will take effect in November, encourages pet shops to work with animal shelters to offer companion animals pets for adoption.
Stacy Sutton Kerby, from Texas Humane Legislation Network, said to WWNTV, “Since January 2021, we have been working tirelessly to pass this ordinance to close the puppy mill pipeline to Dallas.” Karen Froehlich, from the SPCA of Texas, said, “This ordinance will support dozens of local humane pet stores in Dallas that do not sell puppies but rather adopt puppies who desperately need loving families.” Ed Jamison, from Operation Kindness, said, “We’re proud to see that the city of Dallas is once again putting the interests of dogs and cats first.” Austin, College Station, El Paso, Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio and other Texas municipalities have passed similar ordinances. These are some of the legal initiatives to stop puppy mills and similar breeding establishments. In addition to their unethical existence in a world where there are so many abandoned dogs and cats needed for a home, puppy mills are often terrible environments for the animals as they often do not get enough sunlight or food, and sometimes they are abused as they are treated as profit-making commodities, as farmers treat cows, sheeps, goats, pigs, chickens, turkeys, ducks, gooses, or fishes. What we need is a national ban in each country that bans the breeding of any animal, not just companion animals, for profit, but if the only way to get there is to create bans for each species in each municipality one at a time, that will have to do.
