Put kitty litter and a box of dog treats on your grocery list because you’re getting a new pet.
This Saturday, Aug. 6, Hermitage No Kill Cat Shelter, the Humane Society of Southern Arizona, Pima Paws for Life, and Pima Animal Care Center are participating in an Adopt, Don’t Shop event.
The date of the adoption event matches up with the date SB 1248 takes effect. An “Adopt, Don’t Shop” press release says:
“Adopt, Don’t Shop” day also marks the effective date of Arizona’s harmful pro-puppy mill law, SB 1248. The law will prohibit cities, towns and counties from enacting ordinances banning the sale of commercially raised dogs and cats in pet stores and will void ordinances in Phoenix and Tempe. Due to the law, a draft pet store ordinance in Tucson that was pending the outcome of a lawsuit against the City of Phoenix will no longer take effect.
The public can avoid supporting cruel puppy mills by never buying a puppy in a pet store. Most pet store puppies come from commercial breeding facilities that force animals to spend their entire breeding lives in cramped wire cages, to have minimal food and water, to be exposed to extreme temperatures for prolonged periods of time, and to be given only minimal veterinary, dental care and grooming. Other pet stores who sell dogs and cats sourced locally are likely paying unlicensed “back-yard” breeders to produce popular breeds so that they have stock year round. These puppies and kittens leave the stores unaltered, unlike shelter-sourced animals, which must be altered before leaving. This practice contributes to the homeless pet issue and the costs to taxpayers and rescues.
Here’s what Tucson shelters have in store for Saturday:
Hermitage No-Kill Cat Shelter and Sanctuary
5278 E. 21st Street, 571-7839
Kitties for half the normal price: Kittens: $45,
Cats 1 to 7 years: $30,
Cats 7 and older/special needs: $5.
Gifts bags
Pokestop
Trivia game
Humane Society of Southern Arizona
Main Campus: 3450 N Kelvin Blvd, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
PAWSH La Encantada Shopping Center: 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.
PAWSH Park Place Mall: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
PetsMart Orange Grove and River: 10 a.m. – 4 p. m 5
$25 off adoptions
Pima Animal Care Center
4000 N. Silverbell Road
Free adoptions at the main shelter and participating PetsMart locations
Mini Fair from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. featuring:
Food trucks
Kids Center (games and prizes)
Pet retail giveaways from PetsMart and Central Pet
D.J.
Outreach Booth
Free Gift for every 10th adopter
Pokestop
Pima Paws for Life
2555 W. Zinnia Ave. 520.867.
10 a.m.-5p.m.
Prizes for Adopters
Free eegee’s
Update: Linda Nofer, Marketing Director at Companion Pets Inc. (which is associated with the Animal Kingdom store in the Tucson Mall), reached out to me after this blog was published saying there “is much more to SB 1248.”
From Nofer:
Please note that SB 1248 is not a ‘pro-puppy mill law’ as stated in your post and actually does the following to ensure that pet stores are indeed NOT buying puppies from puppy mills:
· Pet stores in Arizona are prohibited from obtaining animals from breeders required to have a U.S.D.A. license but do not currently have one.
· Pet stores in Arizona are prohibited from obtaining animals from U.S.D.A. licensed breeders who have committed a “direct violation” of U.S.D.A. regulations within the past two years.
· SB 1248 includes a three-strike penalty for pet store owners who violate the above policies – banning them from working with commercial breeders and mandating they obtain pets only from rescue groups and/or shelters.
· Pet stores in Arizona are required to disclose the source of the animals they sell both in-store and online.
· SB 1248 gives consumers and animal advocates the right and ability to research the sources or breeders supplying puppies/kittens to pet stores.
· SB 1248 prohibits Arizona cities and counties from enacting or enforcing breed-specific dog regulations and gives the state the power to regulate and penalize pet stores.
Nofer also included some comments from Frank Mineo, owner of Puppies ‘N Love and Animal Kingdom pet stores in Arizona.
“We will never buy puppies from puppy mills and we go above and beyond even the U.S.D.A. regulations when selecting our breeders. We only buy puppies from breeders whom we know, trust and who treat all of their dogs (puppies and adults alike) with veterinary care and compassion and whose kennels show a commitment to animal welfare,” Mineo is quoted as saying in the email. “SB 1248 has the potential to put pet store owners who buy puppies from puppy mills out of business so we support the bill. Puppy mills are deplorable, but putting us out of business does nothing to shut them down, it merely perpetuates a bigger black market for puppies to be sold by unregulated and unscrupulous people with no oversight at all.”
This article appears in Jul 28 – Aug 3, 2016.
Thanks so much, TW!!! We all appreciate your help! Also, the good folks at Pima Paws for LIfe (PPFL) will be offering discounts on select animals! in addition to prizes and eegees!!
I’m so tired of these one sided vegan lairs…going to the pet store to buy a puppy on Saturday! Shop or adopt it is my choice! If you want to do something about over population do something to clamp down on people breeding Pit Bulls and CHI CHI. Your rights stop when you start telling others what kind of dog or puppy they should get and where they should get them.
That pure bred puppy in the pet store window might be cute, but its parents are still back in Missouri sentenced for life in a wire cage to breed until they are no longer useful….then killed. SB1248, passed by AZ legislators last session, mandates that pet store puppies (puppy mill puppies) can continue to be legally be sold in AZ. This law was passed to protect the financial interests of one family, the owner of the largest chain of pet stores in AZ that sell puppies. And they’re all sourced from puppy mills. Obviously that doesn’t matter when there is a heavily pro business majority in state Leg.
Jan, you are just despicable.
Finally, some common sense legislation on behalf of pet stores and breeders! Greg Hale, you obviously drank the animal rights kool-aid! Old_Crow, you are the despicable one! Crawl back into your bottle and age a little more, because every time you crawl back out you will see more of these common sense laws!
Why do u always assume all dogs from a pet store r from a “mill”? Most pics of’ “puppy mills” on the internet r not what they claim. Most of those pics r from other countries, 30 years ago, or manipulated in some way. This is just Animal Rights malarkey. First, they demanded that breeders have USDA licensing, then they claimed that licensing meant nothing. So, why did they demand that licensing AND have a major role in formulating rules they knew were deficient?
BTW, thank you to the writer for adding the update.
You buy a dog or cat from a ‘pet store’ and you kill a dog or cat at a ‘shelter’ It really is just that simple.
If pet stores can only get pets from licensed breeders and those breeders are meeting USDA requirements (does anyone ever do research to see what those actually are?) then they aren’t buying from “puppy mills” (which is a coined term without definition….it can be and is applied to virtually any breeder). And it doesn’t matter if you get your puppy/kitten/whatever from the local no kill shelter or the pet store…you chose the one you wanted, you paid money for it, you SHOPPED and you BOUGHT.
I’m afraid many of you may be mis/uninformed.
There are plenty of USDA & AKC licensed breeders that have been raided and shut down by local law enforcement in conjunction with the ASPCA, HSUS, or another animal welfare group. I have 2 friends that get deployed to rescue/triage the animals in these cases.
The pictures you see are recent, legitimate, and used for evidence. It is not “malarkey,” and if you think so please join a rescue team for a few months and see what goes on out there.
It is one thing to pass laws to implement guidelines, but completely another battle to see it is enforced (which is the problem with the USDA.)
If you really do your own research you will come to the conclusion there is a HUGE puppy mill problem in this country, at least 90% of puppy’s sold in pet stores can be traced back to mills, approximately the same number of dogs are bred in the U.S. as are euthanized, and on and on.
If you think the animal welfare groups go the distance to stop this stuff for kicks or to make money then think again. These groups are made up largely of volunteers who are in it purely for the animals who have no voice. Sadly, whenever animals are used for entertainment or profit it is always the animal that loses. Just do the research- and research your sources- and form your OWN opinion.
Personally, I don’t understand why we are manufacturing more dogs while there is an equal number of dogs that have no where to go. Profiting off of animals, or any non-volunteering third party, is dirty stuff. It’s not even a real business. How much skill is required to take puppies from a momma dog and sell them. Is that like a product that took years to develop and perfect? Does one go to college to learn how to breed dogs? No, and that’s why there are endless puppy mills and backyard breeders. Easy money from the uneducated (on this subject,) unassuming public.
If you are tuned into and informed about the motivation and dynamics of our state legislature, you will know that Greg Hale’s post above is right on. So sad.
Can someone tell me when/why it became OK for humans to USE animals as entertainment or work slaves, or product producing machines? The old “bible says” justification doesn’t fly and makes me cringe. We are to be their stewards, not their users.
Erin, none of the Raids have been on USDA Licensed Kennels Per HSUS. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufGIj_7sOds
Please adopt don’t shop. If you follow the puppy mill pipeline, you will see how often commercial pet stores source their dogs from puppy mills. Although they often misleadingly point to USDA licensing as a standard of care, the USDA itself regularly admits that its own standards are extremely problematic. You don’t even have to take my word for it, here it is in their own words: https://www.usda.gov/oig/webdocs/33002-4-SF.pdf (pp.5 & 10-13 especially).
As for the claim that commercial pet sales bans are somehow discriminatory against those who want particular dog breeds completely ignores the fact that there are rescue organizations that specialize in every single breed of dog under the sun. I strongly encourage people to do their own research, and I have no doubt they will come to the same conclusions. Here is a helpful link for those interested (http://bestfriends.org/resources/stop-puppy-mills-15-things-you-can-do).
Alex, The report was done 6 years ago and the information used is 8 years old. On the very first page it clearly states “Problematic Breeder” a few not the majority. However, the office of the Inspector General put in place many improvements to the USDA and the USDA complied with everyone of them. Here is another part of the report you must have missed…”Many inspectors were highly committed, conducting timely and thorough inspections and making significant efforts to improve the humane treatment of covered animals.” And lets not forget this person that was hired as enforcement in August 2010 just after the report….http://www.thedogpress.com/editorials/APHIS-Who-Is-Sarah-Conant_Andrews139.asp. Now the next part I’m sure will be the next is lack of inspectors…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytJ7xffeGiA
Choosing a pet is not only about the animal, it’s also about what is right for the pet owner. I have looked at all the adopt-a-pet websites over many months and have visited as well, and the majority of dogs that are available are some sort of pit or rottie mix. What if the person looking for a pet wants a breed that is easier to handle or care for, and/or doesn’t come with a history of neglect or abuse that will likely manifest in behavioral issues? I’m old, had a stroke last year, and I would love to have a pet companion, but pet shelters offer limited choices that aren’t right for everyone. I couldn’t handle bathing or even walking a heavy dog. Don’t judge people for wanting a dog that pet shelters don’t offer. Adopting would have been my first choice, but it could take me years to find a pet through a shelter, and I’m already old. lol