A Calgary animal advocacy group is petitioning to ban pet sales in stores.
The group, Actions Speak Louder Calgary, claims pet sales in stores 1) promote suspicious sources, like puppy mills and kitten factories and 2) encourage impulse purchases which lead to more pet surrenders.
The ASLC wants Calgary to establish a by-law that will prohibit the sale of companion animals in any public, retail environment in the city. This all-volunteer group says they hope the by-law will produce the following results:
- Eliminate a medium through which puppy mills sell their dogs and “kitten factories” sell their kittens.
- It will help to prevent the impulse purchase of pets in pet stores and elsewhere.
- It will allow rescue organizations and reputable breeders to fill the niche. Shelter adoptions will increase, and as a result euthanasia will decrease.
Robert Church, owner of Petland –one of Calgary’s largest chain stores, says his staff carefully inspects all the breeders from which they obtain their pets. He believes the group has good intentions, but doesn’t have complete information.
We bought our little Jasmine at a puppy farm. And she seemed to be an alright dog. She even had 10 puppies, 9 of which lived to adult-hood. But she died almost a year ago now, and she was only 4 years old. She died of cancer. She had a spot on her nose, and the doctor didn’t know if it was benign or not, but I had it removed and thought no further about it. But, I think it definitely was a sign of cancer. We got her at a puppy farm. And now I miss her, even though she was a very growly pup. I have her son, a golden 3/4 Corgi/1/4 Cocker male that looks like a miniature golden retriever with a huge tail, and Ooga-Booga, who’s very lovely and is black and white. Ooga-Booga is very sweet, but Sparticus fits his name!
I have 3 kittens and one cat also. The three kittens are 2 brothers and a sister. The brothers are black, but cute and the sister is a brown-stiped tabby. The brother, especially Midnight Monster, looks like a black panther. His brother, Obie Wan, is a bit scrawnier. But they have the longest tails you ever saw, probably World Records!
And we have Bongo, who’s also a brown tabby male with very long hair. His face is like a lions, and that’s why I named him an African name. We used to have a golden tabby too, named Trouble, but he was brutally murdered by dogs. He was my Buddha kitty, because once when I was sick, I used to think Buddhist thoughts and, every time I did, he’d jump into the open window in my bedroom where I was and want to be loved! Anyway, I’m from the Mt. Shasta area, where there is a Buddhist Abbey.
Yes, they have. They’re almost like your own children, and you can give them so much love and they’ll love you back, without complaint!!!