In New York it will be forbidden to buy dogs and cats in pet stores

A new law aims to stop the pet trade in New York state and tackle the factory farms that fuel it.

• New York state has introduced a bill aimed at combating factory farming operations that fuel the sale of animals in stores.
• THE pet store they will no longer be able to sell dogs, cats and rabbits.
• The state government has advised shopkeepers and shoppers to rely on animal shelters and other rescue organisations.

“At a time when there are healthy, loving pets in shelters waiting to be adopted, simply there is no reason to allow the sale of puppies from intensive breeding”.With this simple and shareable sentence begins the bill which will ban the sale of dogs, cats and rabbits in stores in the state of New York in the United States.The law, known as the Puppy mill pipeline bill, aims to stop the trafficking and sale of cruelly bred puppies in the state.The legislation is now awaiting Gov. Kathy Hochul's signature.

Puppy factories banned

With the phrase puppy mill, or “puppy factory”, in the United States refers to intensive breeding farms where dog, rabbit and cat puppies are raised in order to be sold.The bill does not directly target these facilities, many of which are located beyond New York's borders and therefore outside the jurisdiction of local authorities.Instead, it focuses on pet shops which mainly stock specimens from those places.According to child protection organisations animal rights who proposed the legislation, often the shop owners themselves are not aware of the real origin of the puppies.The new law encourages i pet store to collaborate with shelters and rescue groups in order to propose animals in need for adoption.

“Out-of-state puppy mills ship their animals, through a network of middlemen, to stores in New York, where they are marketed as healthy puppies raised by responsible breeders”, he says Maureen Linehan, spokesperson for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).“Closing access to 'puppy mills' will help prevent retailers and commercial breeders from participating in and profiting from unconscionable brutality.”In intensive farming, in fact, animals often have to face terrible survival conditions and are forced to reproduce excessively.

No more animals in the shop window

It will still be legal for breeders to sell puppies directly to potential owners; the legislation would only ban sales by third parties such as stores.Nearly half of the puppies sold in New York come from nearby Missouri, which, according to the ASPCA, has the highest concentration of puppy mills in America.“The nice ones puppies, kittens and bunnies in shop windows hide a sad reality:these animals are victims of abandonment in intensive farming", reports the American organization.

Prior to this bill, New York had already banned pet store to sell rabbits.This is because, according to the legislation, Some people mistakenly think of rabbits as easy-to-care-for pets, when in reality they need highly specialized care.The same protection will now also be ensured for dogs and cats, given that, as Aspca explains, "with so many good animals needing to be saved, there is no need for illegal puppy mills to supply the shops".Our four-legged companions should be treated with respect, not as commodities.