jurisdictions in the world — in the US, Canada, Australia, UK and Spain — have passed bans and Strong Restrictions on retail sales of puppies, kittens and sometimes rabbits, ferrets, pot-bellied pigs and other animals.
ordinances in 2016
ordinances in 2022
ordinances in 2023
Yearly Detail Graph ↓
Bans
Restrictions
West Allis, Wisconsin
Coon Rapids, Minnesota
Clinton, New Jersey
Doylestown, Pennsylvania
Henderson, Nevada
Littleton, Colorado
Montvale, New Jersey
Bayfield, Colorado
Hillsdale, NJ
Lennox, Massachusetts
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See map layer "Resolutions of support"↑ for details and links.
Jurisdictions and activists have won in federal courts
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times :
San Diego puppy store owner David Salinas sued each individual member of the City Council, activists and organizations including Companion Animal Protection Society and Humane Society of the US which helped write the ordinance. Judge dismissed the charges for all but the City of San Diego. A month later, Mr. Salinas dropped the suit against the city.
Cook Cnty suit was dismissed twice by a federal judge: First in May and again with new arguments in August. Cook Cnty, 2:2.
Embattled NJ puppy store chain owner (and owner of a MO puppy mill) Vincent LoSacco dropped his suit against the borough of Emerson, NJ, 7/2016.
See map layer "Failed Legal Challenges"↑ for details and links.
Read Lawsuits Brief↓ under Summaries
See map layers "Local Animal Breeding Bans"↑ and "Consumer Protection States"↑ for details and links.
See map layer "Lawsuits Against Stores"↑ for details and links.
Read Lawsuits Brief↓ under Summaries
| Date | Locale | Milestone |
|---|---|---|
| 07/22/1952 | North Bay Villages, FL | First Keeping dogs for commercial purposes prohibited ordinance. Municipal code |
| 12/12/2002 | Flagler Beach, FL | First known ban of all animal breeding and sales |
| 10/10/2006 | Albuquerque, NM | First dog and cat store ban targeting an overpopulation challenge |
| 04/15/2009 | S Lake Tahoe, CA |
First activist-based puppy store ban creates benchmark civil code language; sparks a movement.
See Yearly Detail Graph ↑ |
| 11/30/2012 | New Westminster, BC | Retails sales ban include rabbits, hares and pikas |
| 09/30/2014 | San Diego, CA | Lawsuit v. City + activists: most charges dismissed. Stores owner David Salinas dropped suit. See Other Map Categories |
| 12/31/2014 | US & Canada | Number of bans doubles from previous year from to |
| 12/31/2016 | US & Canada | Leap of ban passages: in California, in Florida and in New Jersey. in total for 2016 |
| 10/13/2017 | California, US | World's first statewide ban passed in US |
| 12/01/2017 | Victoria, Australia | First statewide ban in Australia passed |
| 07/01/2018 | Victoria, Australia | First statewide ban in Australia in effect |
| 01/01/2019 | California, US | First statewide ban in US in effect |
| 05/13/2019 | England, UK | First countrywide ban law laid in England |
| 05/17/2019 | Wales, UK | Countrywide ban law proposal comments closed |
| 06/17/2019 | US/Canada |
Rabbit sales bans reach 40, 10% increase in 3 months. See blog post Rabbit Sales Bans on the Rise
|
| 08/18/2019 | N Myrtle Beach, S Carolina |
• First ban in South Carolina.
• 1st new state in 9 months. • 26th US state with at least 1 ban: majority of US states reached. • 33 states, provinces or countries with bans worldwide. • See blog post RED-LETTER DAY! |
| 09/01/2019 | National City, CA | First local ban to strengthen statewide ban for loopholes. See blog Salinas simply won't go away |
| 09/18/2019 | Scotland, UK | Third COUNTRYWIDE ban begins legislation process. See blog Scotland Announces Plans for 3rd Countrywide ban |
| 08/27/2019 | Breckenridge, CO | Blog Breckenridge, CO, declares stores a “public nuisance” |
| 11/20/2019 | Dillon, CO | Blog Average bans per year just bumped to 33 |
| 11/20/2019 | Dillon, CO | Blog First year since 2016 where bans will be higher than previous year |
| 12/10/2019 | Metuchen, NJ | Blog As Many Bans As There Are Days in the Year |
| 01/01/2020 | Maryland, US | Second US statewide ban, Maryland's, in effect pending lawsuit outcome |
| 01/12/2020 | Maine, US | Third US statewide ban made law: 4th in the world. Blog Maine's Convoluted Path to Statewide Ban |
| 03/05/2020 | Hillsborough, Florida | PMF.US article, Hillsborough County passed a ban in ’17, but allowed 3 stores. Today they said, “Shut them all down!” |
| 04/06/2020 | England, UK | First countrywide ban in effect |
| 05/22/2020 | Wisconsin, USA |
28th US state with a local ban, 35th state/province in the world. 56% of US states have local or statewide bans
See blog post 28th US State With Local Ban - 35th Worldwide: Welcome Wisconsin! |
| 06/24/2020 | Western Australia | Fifth statewide ban in the world, 2nd statewide ban in Australia |
| 08/12/2020 | Reno, Nevada | 7 year battle saw the closing of 2 stores by public pressure before ordinance passed |
| 10/12/2020 | State of Maine | Sixth global statewide ban in effect, 3rd in US |
| 3/2020-? | Worldwide | SARS-CoV2 pandemic slows passage of bans as jurisdictions turn their attention to health and economic devastation |
| 5/15/2021 | State of Idaho | First local ban in the 29th US state, 36th state/province in the world. First state to be added in the past year, since June 2, 2020 |
| 6/22/2021 | Orange Country, Florida | County gives 1 year amortization to 7 pet stores. Ban includes rabbits |
| 7/27/2021 | Midwest City, Oklahoma | 38th state or province in the world, 30th state in the US. 60% of US states have passed at least one local ban. 421 bans worldwide, 397 bans US. 4th ban of sale of all animals. |
| 8/12/2021 | Fauquier County, Virginia | 39th state or province in the world, 31st state in the US. 62% of US states have passed at least one local ban. 422 bans worldwide, 398 bans US. Virginia has a statewide and 1 local strong restriction |
| 10/20/2021 | Elizabethtown, Kentucky | 40th state or province in the world, 32nd state in the US. 64% of US states have passed at least one local ban. 430 bans worldwide, 406 bans US |
| 8/12/2021 | Fauquier County, Virginia | 39th state or province in the world, 33nd state in the US. 62% of US states have passed at least one local ban. 422 bans worldwide, 398 bans US. Virginia has a statewide and 1 local strong restriction |
| 12/01/2021 | Bloomington, Indiana | 6th ban in the heart of puppy mill territory includes 1 store. Effective 1/1/23 |
| 01/01/2022 | Houston, Texas | City bans puppy stores including 5 operating stores with 1 year to change to humane |
| 7/01/2022 | Orange County, Florida | One year amortization of ban on 7 working stores at time of passage—6/22/2021—expires. Ban includes rabbits |
| 7/22/2022 | Fayetteville, Arkansas | First in state. Bans in 33 US states, 66%. 38 states/provinces worldwide and one country |
| 8/16/2022 | Bend, Oregon | First in state. Bans in 34 US states, 68%. 39 states/provinces worldwide and one country |
| 1/1/2023 | Houston, Texas | One year amortization of ban on 5 working stores at time of passage (1/19/2022) expires |
| 1/10/2023 | Washington, D.C. | Ban includes mammals, amphibians, arachnids, birds, and reptiles 360 |
| 02/09/2023 | Spain, EU | Pet Stores Must Sell From Tightly Licensed Breeders |
UNITED STATES
CANADA
Spain
AUSTRALIA
United Kingdom
US states & DC have passed
bans
Help? Jurisdiction Details in our info screen. info_outline
Alabama
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Florida
assignmentassignmentassignment
Georgia
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kentucky
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
02/22
Minnesota
Nevada
Oklahoma
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
Ohio
Oregon
9/23. Existing stores grandfathered until 9/28.
Pennsylvania
assignment
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Virginia
Washington
assignment
Washington, DC
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Canadian provinces passed
bans
British Columbia
Ontario
Quebec
Australian states passed
bans
Victoria
Western Australia
United Kingdom countrywide ban
England
The government has confirmed it will be banning third party sales of puppies and kittens, Animal Welfare Minister David Rutley announced today (23 December 2018).
The decision was taken following a public consultation, from which there was over 95 per cent support for a ban. It will help bring to an end the terrible welfare conditions found in puppy farming and solve a range of existing animal welfare issues.
Gov.uk: "Ban of third party sales of puppies and kittens, known as ‘Lucy’s Law’, confirmed"
England's countrywide ban, the first in the world, will take effect 6 April 2020.
Transitional provision: existing licences for selling animals as pets
3. A licence granted under the 2018 Regulations before 6th April 2020 authorising the activity described in paragraph 2 of Schedule 1 to those Regulations is to be treated, in relation to the sale of any animal on or after that date, as subject to the licence condition set out in paragraph 5(1) of Schedule 3 to the 2018 Regulations as amended by these Regulations assignment
Wales
This is a major piece of work, and I know how many campaigners are certainly very concerned about that because my inbox shows me that - both as an AM and as the Minister.... What I want to make sure is, I've said we will bring in a Lucy's Law - I'm not in a position at the moment to give you the timetable, but I certainly hope to do so within the next couple of months.
—Environment, Energy & Rural Affairs Minister, Lesley Griffiths
Senedd Home, January 29, 2020
A Welsh minister has promised that Lucy’s Law will be coming to the Principality but the timetable has yet to be confirmed.
At questions for the to the Environment, Energy & Rural Affairs Minister, Lesley Griffiths, Assembly Members Vikki Howells and Alun Davies both asked for updates on proposals to introduce Lucy’s Law in Wales.
Lucy’s Law, a ban on the third party sales of puppies, will be introduced in England in April. The minister said that a statement on animal health was due in February.
Our Dogs Newsletter, Wales, 2.6.20Commitment made to bring Lucy's Law but not before Spring.
Wales unites behind the Lucy's Law campaign to end its shaming puppy farming trade. "Let's try to beat the English to it," said Eluned Morgan, the Labour Assembly Member for Mid and West Wales.
The Welsh government launched a 12 week consultation on banning third-party puppy and kitten sales with the aim of protecting the animals’ welfare, ending 17 May 2019.
A Summary of Responses document has been published, 18 July 2019, on this Welsh government page.
Third party sale of puppies and kittens to be banned in Wales
See blog post, Wales Publishes Responses to Proposed Dog & Cat 3rd Party Sales Ban.
Scotland
New law to BAN puppy farming in Scotland confirmed at 'historic' meeting 9/18/19.
Next step: a typically three month consultation period asking for Scottish citizen and organizations' comments. Will be available on the Scotland.gov site.
Northern Ireland
Members of Belfast City Council have called on Stormont to ban the sale of puppies and kittens from unregistered breeders.
Green Party councillor Anthony Flynn forwarded a motion that the council demands Northern Ireland adopts 'Lucy's Law', which begins later this year in England, meaning that members of the public can only buy from registered breeders.
After passing, the council will now write to the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to call for preparatory work to allow for Lucy's Law to be legislated for here.
Mr Flynn said: "Puppy farming is a callous, inhumane and cruel industry, which seeks to make a quick profit out of the misery of animals.
Ban callous unlicensed puppy farms from selling pets, Stormont urged, 1/2020
Belfast call for puppy and kitten farming BAN after Lucy's Law victory, 8/2019
Spain
US states with
local or statewide
restrictions
Arizona
Connecticut
Florida
Illinois
Louisiana
New Jersey
New York
Ohio
Virginia
Canadian province with
local restriction
Ontario
Puppy Mills — Wikipedia
A puppy mill, sometimes known as a puppy farm, is a type of commercial dog breeding facility. They are all around the world and have similar characteristics. Although no standardized legal definition for "puppy mill" exists, a definition was established in Avenson v. Zegart in 1984 as "a dog breeding operation in which the health of the dogs is disregarded in order to maintain a low overhead and maximize profits". The ASPCA uses a similar definition: "a large-scale commercial dog breeding operation where profit is given priority over the well-being of the dogs." According to the Humane Society of the United States, there are an estimated 10,000 licensed and unlicensed puppy mills in the United States, in total selling more than 2,000,000 puppies annually. In Australia around 450,000 puppies are sold each year and in England approximately 400,000 are sold each year.
The characteristics of a puppy mill are, as said in the report by the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association, "Emphasis on Quantity not Quality, Indiscriminate Breeding, Continuous Confinement, Lack of Human Contact and Environmental Enrichment, Poor Husbandry and Minimal to No Veterinary Care." Dog breeders focus on quantity not quality meaning, their goal is to breed as many puppies as possible for the most amount of revenue. When there is a rise in demand on a certain type of dog, breeders/puppy mills try to meet that demand but when these dogs do not sell, most of them end up in animal shelters or euthanized. When dog breeders focus more on quantity rather than quality, overpopulation is created in the puppy mills and diseases are more likely to spread. According to the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association, indiscriminate breeding is when, "dogs are bred early and often and there is often no screening for heritable disorders, resulting in generations of dogs with unchecked hereditary defects." These dogs rarely go outside. In some mills they are allowed outside for a short amount of time per day. While in these puppy mills, the dogs get no time to walk or play because they are housed in the small crates with little space. Being in a small space and not being able to be active causes stress and affects their development. The puppies do not get to interact with other humans when living in puppy mills, they do not get treats or toys. Not being able to interact with humans can lead to behavioral problems. Puppy mills are unsanitary, their water is usually dirty, the food is not healthy for the dogs and no one cleans up after them. The puppy mill dogs get little to no veterinary care. The Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association stated, "Breeding dogs in puppy mills often suffer from injuries and diseases that go untreated. Injuries and disorders that affect a dog’s reproductive capabilities are rarely treated. Arguably the worst problem is the untreated advanced dental disease, causing infection, pain, and in severe cases, the loss of part or all of the mandible and maxilla."
The term "mill" is also applied to operations involving other animals commercially bred for profit, including cats. For-profit breeding on a smaller scale may be referred to as backyard breeding. Although this term has negative connotations and may also refer to unplanned or non-commercial breeding.
The Dog Factory: Inside the Sickening World of Puppy Mills— Rolling Stone
An investigation into the underworld of America's overcrowded dog farms, the secret shame of the pet industry
Then we found the door that led to the basement. Down there, dozens of puppies in dust-cloaked cages stood on their hind legs and bawled. There were Yorkies and poodles and Maltese mixes, but their fur was so matted and excrement-mottled it was hard to tell which from which. Bred for profit, most of them would have been sold in pet stores or on websites by their third or fourth month of life.
HSUS staffers had gathered evidence that the breeder, Patricia Yates, was selling puppies on multiple websites without a license, and had a stack of buyer complaints lodged against her. But it took a tip from an anonymous source to alert the Sheriff's office to the scale of Yates's operation. "We'd been out there before, but had no idea it was this severe," says Lt. David Taylor, an animal-control cop who helped launch the investigation. Obtaining an arrest warrant was the least of it, though. When you bust an illegal kennel, you're suddenly swamped with sick dogs, often double what had been reported. It took Taylor a month to coordinate with HSUS — the rare non-profit with the money and equipment to house and treat puppy-mill rescues — before launching the raid on Yates's kennel.
Back up the stairs, we followed more barking to a porch bricked in by the owner. It was pitch-black inside, and the smell was a hammer. Here were the parent dogs in desperate shape: blinded by cataracts and corneal ulcers; their jaws half-gone or missing entirely after their teeth had rotted away. Some were so feeble they couldn't stand erect; their paws were urine-scalded and their wrists were deformed from squatting on wire their entire lives.
Investigating Puppy Mills — Oprah
Oprah—and thousands of drivers—saw a billboard just off the Kennedy Expressway in Chicago that read, "Oprah: Do a show on puppy mills. The dogs need you."
The man behind the billboard is Bill Smith, founder of Main Line Animal Rescue. Every year, Bill and several volunteers rescue hundreds of abused, unwanted or abandoned animals, rehabilitate them and adopt them out to families. Many of the animals Bill rescues come from puppy mills, which he describes as places where bad breeders care more about the profit they make from puppies than the health or welfare of the animals. He says the dogs in puppy mills face deplorable conditions including inbreeding, minimal or no vet care, limited shelter and overcrowded cages.
"We were so frustrated ... and no one seemed to be helping them," Bill tells Oprah. "I know that you're a huge animal lover. I just thought that you would be able to spread the word and educate a lot of people."
The billboard certainly worked. "It is my belief that when you actually see this, America, with your own eyes," Oprah says, "that you are not going stand for it."
What is a Puppy Mill?
According to the ASPCA, a puppy mill is a “large-scale commercial dog breeding operation where profit is given priority over the well-being of the dogs.”
Puppies born in a puppy mill are often sold at as young as 8 weeks old, to brokers and/or retailers who then sell the puppies to the consumer. Some puppy mills sell directly to the public through web sites, newspaper classifieds or at flea markets. (ASPCA).
According to the Humane Society of the United States, there are an estimated 10,000 puppy mills in the United States, only 2,024 of which are USDA licensed.
These 10,000 operations are responsible for the sale of 2.15 million puppies in the United States. (HSUS, Puppy Mills Research)
MLAR continues to fight for dogs imprisoned in our nation's puppy mills.
We all know puppy mills are bad. Factory farms where thousands of breeding dogs are kept in cages slightly larger than their own bodies.
Underfed dogs feeding an industry of corruption and greed. Instead of walking on grass, they spend a lifetime on painful wire flooring in cramp rabbit hutches. Instead of collars or bandanas, they wear rusted livestock clips in their ears or chains with USDA tags embedded in their necks. Undeserving of a name after eight years of service, a breeding female is often starved to death or led into a dark cornfield and shot once she can no longer produce puppies for market.
Buyer Beware: The Problem with Puppy Mills and Backyard Breeders
Puppy mills are commercial breeding facilities that mass-produce dogs (and cats in cat mills) for sale through pet stores, or directly to consumers through classified ads or the Internet. Roughly 90 percent of puppies in pet stores come from puppy mills. Many retailers who buy animals from such facilities take the wholesaler's word that the animals are happy and healthy without seeing for themselves.
In most states, these commercial breeding kennels can legally keep hundreds of dogs in cages their entire lives, for the sole purpose of continuously churning out puppies. The animals produced range from purebreds to any number of the latest "designer" mixed breeds. Cat breeding occurs under similar conditions to supply pet stores with kittens.
The Amish And Puppy Mills: The Puppy Mill Project
The Amish are not quite as anachronistic as they may appear at first glance: contemporary Amish have cell phones, caller ID, answering machines, generator-operated heaters and propane-driven appliances. While car ownership is banned, they see nothing wrong in riding in them and often hire others to shuttle them around town. Telephones are not allowed in Amish homes, but many are found in barns or booths, called shanties. Many Amish own freezers but keep them in non-Amish neighbors' homes, sometimes paying rent for the space. (Mennonites, the older, less-strict religious order from whom the Amish split in the 1600's, drive cars and have electricity. Old Order Mennonites, also known as "horse & buggy" Mennonites, are but a mirror image of the Amish.)
Besides raising cows and chickens, hundreds of Amish (and Mennonites), are engaged in another "agricultural" venture, that of large-scale dog breeding known as puppy mills. When it comes to the subject of dog breeding and the Amish, nowhere are the sounds of silence by tight-lipped local officials and the Tourism Board more apparent. Given that the Amish are well known for their agricultural skills, it's no wonder that most people are stunned when told that many Amish, with their large-scale commercials kennels, are responsible for Pennsylvania's reputation among the animal welfare community as the "puppy mill capital of the east."
One in five puppies bought online die before they reach six months old and many are more aggressive
Welfare organisations claim such breeders are only interested in profits, not the animals’ health or well-being.
As a consequence, many die due to poor health while still puppies or require expensive veterinary treatment. They are also more likely to display aggressive or unsociable behaviour.
Experts warn that any prospective owner should ideally buy their pet from a registered breeder or a rescue centre, and visit the premises to see the puppy with its mother and inspect health certificates.
Something Stinks: The Need for Environmental
The overwhelming smell is always the first to hit you. Next it is the sound; twenty-five to forty wire mesh cages, many containing multiple puppies, line the walls of this Conshohocken, Pennsylvania pet store. The cages have drip pans underneath, which are supposed to allow for easy clean up of waste, but the puppies are still covered in their own excrement and urine. When asked about the breeding information for a beautiful, friendly American-Eskimo Keeshond designer mix selling for five hundred dollars, the store employee gives a generalized description of “somewhere in Pennsylvania.” Skirting the identification of a puppy's breeder can be a puppy mill warning signal.
AKC-registered breeders raising dogs in 'miserable' conditions
New accusations that one of the country's largest organizations dedicated to dogs, the American Kennel Club, isn't doing enough to protect animals. TODAY National Investigative Correspondent Jeff Rossen reports.
When you go to buy a puppy, you want it to be happy, healthy and well-treated. A lot of people count on the American Kennel Club to find a breeder. When you see that AKC seal, you think to yourself: "I'm getting a good dog." But we've discovered disgusting conditions and sick dogs at AKC-registered operations.
Stop Puppy Mills: 15 Things You Can Do
Using Local Ordinances to Combat Mills
An Advocate’s Guide to Getting Puppy Mill Puppies Out of Local Pet Stores An Advocate’s Guide to Stopping Puppy Mills
What to do when you find animals in substandard conditions at a pet store
Harley's Heroes Groups—Map and Contact List
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Throughout the world, jurisdictions [US: , Canada: , AUS: , UK: ] have passed a ban on the sales of puppies, kittens and sometimes rabbits, ferrets, pigs and other animals in retail stores unless procured from accredited shelters or rescues, also known as "adopt-only" ordinances, including the entire states of California and Maryland in the US; Victoria, Australia; and England, UK.
‡ PMF.US counts all New Jersey counties which include bans in their resolutions of support, though they lack authority over businesses locally. Without the , the ban count is .
assignment Resolution 2015-550, Mercer County, New Jersey
¶ 1A. A pet shop may only offer for sale those dogs and cats that the pet shop has obtained from or displays in cooperation with:a). An animal care facility; or
b). An animal rescue organization
—Jeff Nash, Camden Cnty, New Jersey, Board Member, 9/2015
Miami passed an ordinance on 7/27/17 that limits the sourcing of dogs and cats in retail stores, but allows for local backyard breeders to provide "products" to retail stores. This regulation is similar to one of the earliest strong restrictions tallied, in Sunrise County, Florida.
Since we know that breed-club breeders [e.g., Labrador Breeders of America] are under licensing restrictions to not sell to pet stores, which most of them wouldn’t do anyway, backyard breeders will be allowed to provide stores with pets: a puppy and kitten glut could ensue, stores might increase and a local pet mill problem could proliferate.
As of 9/2019, a search for puppy stores in Miami returns 3 brick-and-mortar results which, sadly, bears this out.
Largo passed an ordinance on 9/7/21, grandfathering in a Petland and at least one sole proprietor puppy store. The stores could potentially continue to sell dogs and cats in perpetuum as they can be inherited by family members or sold if new owners use the same name and location.
While there is a ban on new puppy store licenses being issued and current stores must follow strong restrictions on the sales of dogs from USDA licensed breeders with no violation in the previous 2 years, there is no provision on how to enact or fund the restriction and many a puppy will slip through this wide-open crack. Ergo, this is not a complete ban on the sale of dogs and cats in retail stores.
We, therefore, have relegated these close-but-no-cigar ordinances to a strong restriction rather than a full ban.
🐾Indicated on our World Map ↑ as white or yellow (restrictions only) states.
Strong restrictions include ordinances that require pet stores to post breeder information on the cages of pets for sale and do not allow pets from mills that have had a USDA inspection violation in the past 2-5 years, variously. These are next to impossible to enforce, allow for business as usual and are dependent on consumers and watch dog organizations to report violations.
On the upside, when strong restrictions are proven to be repeatedly violated, it leaves a governing council or legislature no choice but to implement a total ban as is the case with the state of Maryland which passed restrictions in May 2016 and a full ban in April 2018.
If the jurisdictions with strong restrictions [US: , Canada: ] that are causing puppy stores to close or change to humane are included, the number of international jurisdictions with pet sales bans or strong restrictions is .
Jurisdictions cite the reasons for the ordinance as humanitarian/compassionate in nature since animals in puppy and kitten stores are virtually all sourced from large scale breeding operations, a.k.a. "puppy mills." Also frequently cited are issues of fraud as animals sold as pure-bred are sometimes not and animals born from sickly animals in pet mills can cost consumers in veterinarian and training bills. As costs rise, animals are all too frequently turned over to local, tax payer-funded shelters or sold online.
By our count, at least bans have passed injurisdictions that had at least one operating store in them, the majority of which were/are effective immediately.
Noted on our my_locationGoogle Interactive Map with a red puppy head icon for cities and red location marker for counties.
Grandfathering a store, or stores, occurs when a ban is passed that only affects new licensing. Current store(s) may continue, often with strict provisions, such as the store cannot be sold even to a relative. Some allow for inheritance, but most prohibit transference. Of course with convoluted business licensing applications, follow-up can be difficult making grandfathering a loophole that is best closed by not opening it in the first place.
Some jurisdictions give a grace period to stores, called amortization, before they have to comply, lasting anywhere from 20 to 30 days to 18 months. Downers Grove, IL, graces a store until its lease is up. Some require immediate compliance. State bans do not grandfather, though the ban is often effective a year or more after passage.
Many grandfathered stores have closed. In that case, we do not indicate a store had been grandfathered, such as Hoboken, NJ. In Seminole County, FL., a grandfathering clause was writtten, but no stores existed. Likewise, in Indian River County, FL grandfathering was written in, but strict enough to have the single puppy store close during ban deliberation when the writing was on the wall.
Noted on our my_locationGoogle Interactive Map with a dark blue puppy head.
Any animal found for sale in retail pet stores that aren't specifically from an adoption agency or rescue group are most-likely sourced from the same kind of reprehensible conditions as puppy and kitten mills, where profits are of greater concern than the animals' well-being.
jurisdictions name rabbits in their bans of retail sales including the state of California.
name ferrets
name pot-belled pigs
Number of times ordinances name these animals in retail sales bans:
No pet shop, grooming shop or auctions shall sell or offer to sell any animal from a Commercial Animal Establishment, except for the sale or offer to sell animals from an Animal Care Facility or an Animal Rescue Organization.
Prohibition of all animals sales ban rescinded to included dogs and cats only, 7/2019. Municipal code.
To date, : (12 federal, 2 local) court lawsuits against jurisdictions have failed (including 4 appeals and 2 withdrawals) andall bans have been upheld.The lawsuits were brought by store owners and large-scale breeder support organizations.
The 14th lawsuit—against the State of Maryland, the first against a state—was lodged September 2019 and thrown out by a judge in 2/2020.
Details…. ↑
known lawsuits are currently being brought against puppy stores and national chains selling puppies, kittens and other animals sourced from pet mills.
Details…. ↑ 
At least 1 lawsuit brought by store owners against activists has failed, not including the judge's dismissal of charges in San Diego brought by multiple stores-owner David Salinas against activists, non-profits and individual city council members. See Chicago pet store owners' defamation lawsuit tossed vs puppy mill activist; judge says 'no malice'
09/23/17: Series of federal court rulings – the latest upholding a Chicago anti-puppy-mill law – affirm state, local efforts against animal cruelty. Humane Society of the United States
11/16/16: Petland sues Sarasota Co. over controversial 'puppy mill' ordinance .
1/23/17: "The injunction was denied by the court therefore after this Friday (the 27th of January) Petland Sarasota MUST obey the new law and STOP all sales of cats and dogs." —FB post.
State laws prohibit local bans.
We include 2 Arizona and 1 Ohio jurisdictions because our count is of bans that have passed, including those made unenforceable by legislative (state) act.
Details and jurisdiction information: Arizona ↑ Ohio ↑
In May 2016, the Arizona legislature enacted a law prohibiting local communities from ending animal suffering by passing retail store restriction and ban ordinances, nullifying the 2 local bans that had been passed in Phoenix (12/13) and Tempe (02/16).
The ordinances passed in the two cities are still written into local municipal code, they just can't be enforced because of state law. If the state law is ever changed or removed, the bans would become immediately enforceable.
Tucson, Arizona, was on the eve of passing a ban when the state law came into effect. The city Council held passage of the ban until state law is lifted. Immediate passage of a ban in Tucson is expected if and when the state prohibition of bans is ended. See blog post Landslide of Statewide Bans if OR, MA, PA, ME, & NY Pass Pending Bills
In December 2016, Ohio followed suit, nullifying two local bans in Toledo (12/13) and Grove City (03/16).
After the state prohibitions on bans, Grove City reversed its ban through an ordinance. Should state law be lifted, there would be no ban in place in Grover City. Toledo's is still in effect, though not enforceable.
Both state laws created statewide strong restrictions on all stores, though those measures are ineffective.
See the Strong Restrictions summary ↑ for details.
We count all bans that were passed by community activists and regulatory bodies, therefore the state prohibitions have not altered our count of bans. Our count of bans passed includes the 3 bans passed in Arizona and Ohio
1). We have removed from our count the Las Vegas, Nevada, ban passed in January 2016. The city council REVERSED their ban in November 2017.
2). Likewise, as noted just above, we do not count the Grove City, Ohio, ban as the City REVERSED their ban by ordinance in January 2017, citing state law's nullification of their ban.
So far, only jurisdictions have made this mistake, noted on our my_location Google Interactive Map ↑ with a black puppy head icon
cities, counties and state departments have issued statements and resolutions of support toencourage other jurisdictionsto pass bans. Details ↑ ….
for layers.
Using PMFUS