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Californian law change means pet shops can sell only rescued animals
California is set to become the first state in the US to ban the sale of non-rescue animals in pet shops.
The new law, known as AB 485, takes effect on 1 January. Any businesses violating it face a $500 (£400) fine.
The change means cats, dogs and rabbits sold by retailers cannot be sourced from breeders, only from animal shelters.
Animal rights groups have heralded it as a step forward against so-called "kitten factories" and "puppy mills".
Previously: California Commercial Pet Breeding Law Passed, Signed
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Californian Law Change Means Pet Shops Can Sell Only Rescued Animals
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Actors will happen even in the best-regulated families.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by bradley13 on Monday December 31 2018, @08:05AM (5 children)
I usually laugh at California, but this law is right. In fact, it doesn't go far enough.
At the IQ level of cats and dogs, the environment during puppyhood/kittenhood is critical. Living your life in a cage in a pet shop is definitely not a healthy environment. Pet stores can sell hamsters, and guinea pigs, and snakes, and fish. Dogs and Cats? No, shouldn't happen. Not even rescue animals.
Animal young have developmental milestones, just like human kids. There are ages by which they must have certain experiences, or they will never make up the ground. A good breeder will invest a lot of time, introducing puppies and kittens to essential experiences, and having them interact with people. A bad breeder won't, and you don't want their damaged goods.
A pet shop is going to be even worse. The animals are going to be stuffed in a cage, on display all day. At night, you think the employees have the time and interest to work with the animals? Forget it, they're going to lock them up all night, and put them back on display the next day. If there were a manual on how to permanently damage an animal, this would be the first illustration.
My wife works with dogs a lot. She took on a rescue animal, one who had lived a healthy-but-ignored life until full adulthood. The dog has a heart of gold, but he is simply incapable of understanding much in the way of human speech and gestures. He missed all the milestones. It's like kids learning foreign languages - past a certain age, it just doesn't work very well. This is what you're going to get - in the best case - from a bad breeder or a pet store. In the worst case, you will get a neurotic, ill-behaved critter that chews up your furniture and bites your kids.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 31 2018, @12:04PM
But, kids who aren't chewed thoroughly don't often grow up right either!
(Score: 3, Funny) by JoeMerchant on Monday December 31 2018, @02:18PM (2 children)
When I was young my dad bought a Persian cat from a breeder, I it was several months old when we got it and had essentially lived in a box up until that time. It had long fur on its feet, so when it would run across the slick floored living room it would slide to a stop, usually running the long diagonal and sliding the last 6 feet or so under the television. As it grew it became too tall to slide under the television, which it learned by smacking its head into the bottom of the TV repeatedly until it finally learned to spread its legs wide to get flatter to the ground as it slid.
Even before the head injuries it wasn't the brightest cat we ever owned.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Monday December 31 2018, @05:55PM (1 child)
Not sure it was the only dumb one in this relationship. Couldn't you have trimmed the fur so this didn't keep happening...?
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday January 01 2019, @12:39AM
A. the cat really enjoyed sliding on his furry feet.
B. there were only about 6 "thumps" before he figured it out the first time, and about 3 more when he grew so big that even spread eagle he couldn't make it anymore.
C. I can't imagine that trimming the foot fur would have been at all pleasant for the trimmer, or the trimmee...
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Monday December 31 2018, @11:09PM
Your points are valid, but we are talking about rescue animals who are caught in a situation where their choice is a shelter until adopted or put down or a pet store until purchased. The point of the law is to prevent "puppy mills" from breeding dogs into this situation. Whether it will work or not remains to be seen. I have doubts, without enough of a budget for enforcement and a will to do so, the only people prosecuted for breaking the law will be those extremely horrific stories that make the news.