A long fight to end the practice of retail puppy sales in Orange County might be moot if the state legislature passes a new law.
A “pet protection” act under consideration in Tallahassee would overturn local bans on the sale of puppies and kittens while putting in place a framework for inspections and regulation of the sellers. The ban was passed in Orange County last year after the horrible conditions at several local Petland stores were made public. The Humane Society points toward the chain as the push behind the bill.
“Petland has 15 locations in Florida, a state with over 80 puppy-selling pet stores, and the company has almost certainly concluded that stripping local governments of their ability to regulate puppy sales will prove unpopular, especially at a time when many locally funded shelters across Florida are at capacity,” they wrote. “That’s why this legislation is crafted to appear to regulate the very industry it is designed to protect. It includes 20 pages of weak and unenforceable language that would do little but maintain the status quo for stores like Petland while harming shelters by pumping more puppy mill puppies into Florida communities.”
“The puppy mill to pet store pipeline would flourish under this Trojan horse proposal, and so would the practices we’ve exposed and campaigned against—the sale of sick puppies, the deception of consumers and exorbitant financing rates and hidden fees,” Humane Society CEO Kitty Block shared in a statement.
The bill is part of a continued push by the supposed party of small government to supercede local authority. Florida Republicans have consistently trounced on their commitment to “small government” throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, undoing local emergency orders and pushing for legislation that would allow business owners to overturn the votes of local authorities.
