Orange County must oppose dangerous pet store preemption bill
A fast-moving state bill should be concerning to Orange County residents and to anyone who cares about the welfare of animals. The bill undermines an Orange County ordinance prohibiting the sale of puppy mill puppies, kittens and bunnies in pet stores. County commissioners passed it last June for good reason.
There was compelling evidence that Orlando-area pet stores sourced puppies from puppy mills one could only describe as hellish. There were heartbreaking stories from local families who were sold sick and dying puppies. There were firsthand accounts from former pet store employees who described shocking in-store conditions that compromised animals’ health and well-being.
The commissioners did what they knew to be right, but this properly enacted ordinance, scheduled to take effect this summer, is now under attack in Tallahassee. SB 994/HB 849 — backed by the Petland pet store chain, which has two stores in Orange County — would void Orange County’s Humane Pet Store Ordinance and prevent any future local ordinances of this kind in our state. Florida’s puppy-selling pet stores, including Petland, want to continue peddling pets from mass-production breeding operations that deprive animals of their most basic behavioral and physical needs, and this bill is their meal ticket.
The spin that puppy-selling pet stores are pushing in the state Capitol is the same stuff they rely on to convince their customers to spend thousands of dollars on a new puppy, claims like “no puppy mill guarantees” and “health warranties.” But the legislation is a subterfuge designed not to protect pets or consumers through genuine regulation but to preserve the ability of Florida pet stores to source puppies from some of the worst puppy mills in the nation. What’s more, the industry is backing up its bid to overturn the animal welfare ordinances passed in Orlando and Manatee counties with both money and firepower.
The industry’s bill suggests that Florida rely on the United States Department of Agriculture to provide oversight of commercial breeders even though the USDA’s standards are weak and its enforcement deficiencies well-documented.
Even if SB 994/HB 849 were to pass with a requirement that pet stores only source puppies from USDA-licensed breeders without any animal welfare violations it would still perpetuate a system of harm and suffering. USDA breeders can be compliant even when they confine dogs to stacked, wire cages six inches larger than their bodies for their entire lives. Mother dogs can be bred at every heat cycle and euthanized when they no longer produce puppies.
Yet under SB 994/HB 849, selling dogs from breeders with histories of citations would be just fine so long as they don’t include a USDA violation labeled “direct” in the previous two years or three or more violations in the previous year. This will ensure Florida stores can source from hundreds of licensed breeders whose disturbing violations have been labeled differently but are still serious or who have avoided USDA inspections over the past three years altogether, as so many have.
Public records show that Orange County pet stores already source puppies from large-scale puppy mill breeders and brokers with troubling records, and stores would still be able to buy from most of them under SB 994/HB 849. Nor would the bill stop pet stores from selling sick puppies to unsuspecting consumers, leading to high veterinary bills or the heartbreak of having a new pet die within weeks.
Attorney General Ashley Moody’s ongoing litigation against an Orange County Petland store is worth noting, as it alleges the store “misrepresent[ed] to consumers that the puppies are healthy, high-quality animals, and fit for sale, when in fact, in some instances, puppies have died soon after being purchased or suffered from congenital or other hereditary disorders.”
Some 83 Florida localities have passed ordinances to prohibit the sale of puppies in retail pet stores, a good indication of public opinion on this issue. The Legislature may not want to pass a bill that shuts off the puppy mill-to-pet store pipeline, but we urge it to do right by humankind’s best friend and not prevent the local communities who wish to do so.