Best Friends Animal Society Celebrates More Than 100 U.S. Communities That Ban Retail Sale of Commercially Bred Puppies and Kittens

Sometimes what happens in Vegas…is great news that needs to be shared.

Best Friends Animal Society is pleased to announce that more than 100 communities across the United States have enacted legislation banning the retail sale of commercially bred puppies (from sources known as “puppy mills”) and kittens, with Las Vegas being the most recent city to join this fast-growing trend.

Other prominent cities include Los Angeles, Chicago, Beverly Hills, and counties like Salt Lake County (UT), Camden County (NJ), and Ventura County (CA).

“Best Friends has worked tirelessly for years to create and lobby for humane legislation,” said Elizabeth Oreck, national manager of puppy mill initiatives, Best Friends Animal Society. “Through our puppy mill initiatives, we encourage pet stores to offer shelter and rescue animals for adoption instead of mill-bred pets, and to educate consumers about the link between pet stores, internet pet sales and puppy mills.”

Puppy mills are high-volume dog breeding facilities, like "factory farms" for dogs and supply nearly 100 percent of U.S. pet stores and online puppy retailers. Most of these “factories” have inadequate medical care and human socialization with dogs living in small cages, often in the minimum legal size allowed (only six inches larger than the dog on all sides) and female dogs bred as frequently as possible. Additionally, mills provide inadequate medical care and human socialization.

These substandard factories prioritize profit and maximum productivity over the health and welfare of the animals and churn out an estimated two million animals each year. At the same time four million pets are killed in shelters, most simply because they don't have a safe place to call home.

Even though more and more Americans are taking a stand against them, the U.S. still has an estimated 10,000 licensed and unlicensed puppy mills. 

“Taking a stand against puppy mills by passing humane laws, and consumers’ decision to avoid pet shops and online retailers will make this inhumane industry a thing of the past,” Oreck added.

A sharable PSA about puppy mills is available here.

Learn more about Best Friends puppy mill initiatives at http://bestfriends.org/our-work/puppy-mill-initiatives.