Sale of cats, dogs banned to curb animal factories

WEST HOLLYWOOD - West Hollywood, a famously quirky city that formally recognises pets as companions and their owners as guardians, has put a leash on dog and cat sales.

The West Hollywood City Council voted unanimously to ban stores from selling cats and dogs in a move aimed at curbing puppy mills and kitty factories.

Pet shops will be permitted, however, to offer animals from shelters, once the law goes into effect in September.

West Hollywood officials acknowledged the new ordinance would have little bite - no pet stores in the city at present sell animals - but they're hoping it will have a lot of bark and other municipalities will follow suit.

"You have to start somewhere," said Michael Haibach, deputy to Councilman Jeffrey Prang, who sponsored the legislation.

West Hollywood became the first city in the US to prohibit cat declawing in 2003, a measure that has since spread to other cities. Another West Hollywood ordinance terms pets as "companion animals" and gives their "guardians" a local tax deduction for pet adoption fees.

Since the pet sales ordinance was introduced this month, the city has received inquiries from other municipalities across the country and even from Europe interested in replicating it, Haibach said.

West Hollywood, however, is not the first US city with such a rule; South Lake Tahoe adopted a similar ban last year.

West Hollywood moved to outlaw pet sales after the Companion Animal Protection Society last year brought evidence to the council of a local pet shop allegedly selling puppies imported from Russia as well as from a known puppy mill in Minnesota.

The owner of Elite Animals eventually stopped selling the puppies after society members picketed the shop for more than five months.

Davis predicted the city's action would increase public pressure on lawmakers across the nation to impose pet-sale bans. "The public wants a cruelty-free pet," she said.

Advocates for the pet industry said such ordinances are misguided because they do not tackle the source of the problem - irresponsible commercial breeders who keep animals in deplorable conditions.

- AP