NY’s Puppy Mill Pipeline Law may not eliminate puppy mills, but it’s a big step in the right direction. More states should do the same.

The lawsuit brought by pet stores last week to block New York’s Puppy Mill Pipeline Law, which takes effect Dec. 15, is transparently self-serving. The effective date of the law gave pet stores a two-year lead time to prepare for a new reality —a reality that does not allow these merchants to profit from the sale of animals bought from unscrupulous breeders and dealers.

The pet stores argue that the law won’t put an end to the puppy mill pipeline. It will just move sales of factory-bred pets underground, they say. 

The pet stores point to the State of California for a peek at the future for black market pet dealers in New York. California outlawed retail sales of dogs, cats and rabbits in 2017. An article published in September by The Los Angeles Times detailed how the underground network of pet dealers flourished after the California’s law was enacted.

However, four other states besides California and New York, and more than 400 cities and counties have also passed retail pet store bans, according to the Animal Legal Defense Fund.

Sure, it’s unlikely that New York’s new law will altogether eliminate puppy mills. There are an estimated 10,000 puppy mills, both licensed and unlicensed, in the U.S. according to the Humane Society of the United States, which describes puppy mills as high-volume breeding facilities that churn out puppies for profits.

Female dogs at these places are overbred, giving birth to multiple litters every year,  and are often killed or abandoned after they are unable to breed, the Humane Society says. Dogs that come from puppy mills often suffer from a variety of health issues resulting in how their mothers are bred, the conditions the pups were living in and being weaned too soon. 

Nevertheless, the puppy mill operations are profitable businesses and their unscrupulous operators will no doubt find ways to continue to ply their trade.

If ending the sale of animals bred by those operators at pet stores in New York doesn’t put an end to puppy mills, it will certainly make their operation more difficult and cut into the volume of their sales.

And that’s a good thing, because no animal should be treated the way animals kept for breeding and their offspring are treated, or kept in the conditions that prevail at puppy mills.

Pet stores argue that their own operations are not the problem; they obtain their  “inventory” from responsible breeders, not puppy mills, they say. But organizations like the Animal Legal Defense Fund say that virtually all animals sold in pet stores come from puppy mills. Responsible breeders want to know about the home their dogs will live in and who the people are who will raise them. They screen potential purchasers.

Pet stores also argue that existing laws, regulations and the inspections performed by various agencies are adequate to ensure humane conditions at the breeding facilities and the health of puppies purchased from them.

If that were true, puppy mills wouldn’t be the humane disaster that they are — places where animals are neglected, where they are kept in filthy conditions, and where illnesses and injuries are left untreated. But that’s what puppy mills are and how they are operated. Too often, the regulators, including the USDA, look the other way rather than take corrective action.

Pet stores, however, also deny that the puppy mill problem actually exists. They argue in their lawsuit that the retail sales ban imposed by the law is some sort of fever dream of the “far-left animal-rights” crowd whose agenda is “championed by anti-fur organizations like the Animal Defense League.” 

The pet stores’ lawsuit says that commercial breeders and pet stores are needed to supply pure breeds for people who want to acquire “a gentle lab, or a smart terrier, a corky or a dalmatian, or a hypoallergenic dog like a labradoodle,” the pet stores’ lawsuit says. Shelter dogs are “overwhelmingly pit bulls and pit bull mixes,” the lawsuit claims. 

The new law does not prevent commercial breeding in New York, nor does it prevent people from buying pure-breed dogs directly from breeders. People can utilize various resources for identifying reputable local breeders and finding puppies of their breed of choice. One example of such a resource is the AKC Marketplace, accessible on the website of the American Kennel Club. The AKC offers advice on selecting the right breed, finding a reputable breeder and questions to ask/things to look into before you choose a breeder and buy a dog. 

The pet stores’ lawsuit strikes us as a “hail Mary pass” with no time left on the clock. We trust that a judge will recognize this desperate move for what it is and rule that the suit has no merit.

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