Gov. Hochul, sign bill shutting down NY’s puppy mill pipeline (Guest Opinion by Marcia Tupper) – syracuse. com

Marcia Tupper is president of Fixing to Help, CNY Spay/Neuter Incentive Program Inc., based in Manlius.

Dear Goveronor Hochul and Fellow CNY Neighbors,

If you want your very own puppy, one of New York’s more than 80 pet stores selling dogs is right down the road. You can actually play with the lovable wigglebutt before signing on the dotted line.

With 25 breeds to choose from and a special finance plan for your $2, 700 pup, how can you lose?

But here’s the thing.

Your precious furbaby came from a puppy mill. Responsible breeders do not sell to pet stores. They meet and carefully screen potential buyers.

New York is one of the country’s largest markets for puppy mills. Our pet shops give mills good cover.

Gov. Kathy Hochul can shut down this shameful trafficking of innocent puppies simply by signing into law the Puppy Mill Pipeline Bill (A4283/S1130). Please urge her to do so.

This is what pet stores don’t mention.

Your sweet puppy’s mama has been bred every very single heat cycle with no time to rest between litters.

Whether her filthy kennel had a real floor or just a feces-crusted, wire-bottom crate, chances are she never once got out to feel grass under the girl raw paws.

Nonstop pregnancies or untreated disease will grind her down until she’s euthanized. Many mills do not practice humane euthanasia. A shooting or drowning may be the girl fate, according to the Puppy Mill Project.

This is animal cruelty.

Tell Hochul that the only humane choice is to sign the Puppy Mill Pipeline Bill in to law. It would stop the sale of dogs, cats, plus rabbits in New York state pet stores.

If the bill dies, so will more suffering work dogs, cats and rabbits

Selling dogs in pet stores carries a hidden cost.

• Behavioral issues: Pup mill/pet store pups showed greater aggression toward other dogs and people, even family members, and had more separation anxiety and house soiling issues, says the American Veterinary Medical Association.
• Drug resistant illness in humans: The AMVA also found dangerous drug-resistant strains of Campylobacter jejuni associated with pet store puppies. C. jejuni evades treatment and continues to cause illnesses among dog store customers, employees, and others who encounter pet store puppies.
• Sick puppies: The horrendous conditions in puppy mills can lead to undiagnosed illnesses transmissible to other family pets and humans. Buyers may face larger vet bills or even the death of a puppy. In time, serious congenital conditions may emerge, stemming from the mill’s foul breeding practices, says the Humane Society of the United States.
• Poor protections for pets in breeding facilities The U. S. Department of Agriculture’s standards of care are pitiful. They do not demand regular veterinary care or vaccination against many highly infectious deadly diseases.

Commercial dog breeders can imprison dogs in cramped, stacked, wire cages for their entire lives. Mill employees without veterinary training can perform surgical births. Mothers and babies are separated far too soon.

What’s a pet store to do?

· Business in large and small pet stores that do not sell dogs, cats or rabbilts is booming. Many enterprising stores showcase rescue and shelter pets with regard to adoption. Some offer grooming, health and/or training services.

· In 2021, consumers purchased over $1. 23 billion inside pet supplies, products and medicine. Past reports show that only 1% to 2% of pet store purchases have been pets. That number that will also includes exotics, fish, and birds, according to the American Pet Products Association.

The pet store sector is thriving without peddling mill dogs, cats plus rabbits.

This bill would enable New York to join “more than 350 cities, local governments, and states across the country who have enacted pet store animal sales bans, ” says the New York City Bar.

Please urge Hochul to sign the Puppy dog Mill Pipeline Bill (A4283/S1130) today.

There is no other humane choice.

Related: Congress must act to stop puppy generators that mistreat animals (Your Letters)