California pet stores will sell animals from shelters only

A recent law requires that California pet stores can only sell rescue dog and cats that come from animal shelters or non profit organizations—this is really big news that we couldn’t be more excited for!

The Pet Rescue Adoption Act, went into effect January 1, 2019 and bans all California pet stores from selling puppies, kittens and rabbits sourced from commercial breeders. Instead, these stores will only be able to house rescue animals from local shelters. The law will target the breeding facilities known as puppy mills or kitten factories, which often operate with little attention to the animals’ welfare by housing them in overcrowded, unsanitary and inhumane conditions. These animals are then sold to commercial pet stores solely for profit.   To learn more about the legislation check out, A.B. 485.

According to Best Friends Animal Society 4,100 dogs and cats are euthanized every day in animal shelters. The number of animals that are needlessly dying in shelters simply because there is not enough space for them could be reduced dramatically if more people adopted pets instead of buying them. If you buy a dog or a cat from a pet store, you’re most certainly getting a pet from a puppy mill. Puppy mills and kitten factories continue to stay in business simply because their consumers are unaware of where the animals have come from when they purchase a puppy or kitten from a pet store. Puppy mills will continue to operate until people stop supporting them.

Dog Is My CoPilot dedicates all of our program and resources to fly animals from overcrowded shelters to organizations in other states that have space to find them homes. Creating more opportunities and ways for people to adopt a pet rather than purchase a pet will ensure more animals waiting in shelters have the opportunity to find loving homes. We fly on average about 20 flights per year from overcrowded California shelters—we hope that more states will follow California!

Resources:

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB485

https://bestfriends.org

https://www.humanesociety.org