Historic Bill Banning Puppy Mill Pet Store Sales in Hands of Californi

Lori Ennis
by Lori Ennis
A historic piece of legislation that will ban the pet store sale of all dogs, cats, and rabbits that come from commercial breeding facilities now sits in front of California Governor Jerry Brown, awaiting his signature.


In California, AB 485–the Pet Rescue and Adoption Act, was passed by both the state Senate (with a 38-0 vote) and the state Assembly (65-3) and only needs the Governor’s signature to become law. The act bans the sale of pets (dogs, cats and rabbits) who come from high-volume commercial breeding facilities (such as ‘puppy mills’) and was sponsored by Democratic Assembly Members Patrick O’Donnell and Matt Dababneh.


Related: New California Bill Only Allows Pet Stores to Sell Rescued or Shelter Animals


Republican Assembly Member Rocky Chavez signed as a co-sponsor of the bill, and with the overwhelming support, showed that both parties were committed to efforts of ensuring shelter animals find forever homes and puppy mills find no support in their state.


Pet shops who want to continue selling pets will now have to source solely from local shelters and rescues, and the state legislators hope the act will put a stop to the mass breeding of pets. Senator Cathleen Galgani said that often, bred pets end up in shelters too, and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to take care of–only to lead to euthanasia in many cases. She says that taking puppy mills out of the equation will be better for pets and for people.


The bill was sponsored by the animal advocacy group Social Compassion in Legislation, and founder and president Judie Mancuso says they are thrilled with the monumental bill. She believes that the numbers of pets annually euthanized in California (about half a million) will go down and mass breeders will get the message that people will not stand for inhumane and abhorrent practices so many puppy mill-like places have.


Related: 10 Signs Your Dog is From a Puppy Mill


That all said, there are some big groups who oppose the bill, and are encouraging Californians to ask Governor Brown to veto. Two other states, Maine and New Jersey attempted similar bills to no avail, so we watch and see if California will be the one to make history. The Governor has until October 15 to sign into law or veto.

Lori Ennis
Lori Ennis

More by Lori Ennis

Next