Kitsap County is the first of 5 total bans that includes a retail store. The County’s proximity to Seattle could prod the slow poke into action.
On 7/22/2020, the first ban in Washington that had a store in its jurisdiction will be in effect in Kitsap County. The store owners of 43 years are upset and cite that their puppies sell for $1200. So they must be good? To those that buy a pup for that price when you can get an awesome dog at a shelter for from $25-100, we say:
There’s a Sucker Born Every Minute.
Unknown [wasn’t P.T. Barnum]
This is Washington’s 5th ban including a rabbit sales ban in Gig Harbor. But the significance of a ban with a store, and a very long time one at that, could someday influence slow poke Seattle just across Puget Sound from all 5 current ban jurisdictions.
Kitsap County not far from Seattle in King County Washington.
One has to wonder why the store owners are crying foul. How many dogs do you think they might sell on average per week? Think 5 is reasonable? With as many as 25 per week at Christmas, we’ll call 5 a lowball.
5 x 1200 x 52 x 43 = $13,416,000. Let’s call the lowball estimate vs. the expenses a wash, making this figure pure profit.
Isn’t $13 million enough for a lifetime? Or is this proof positive yet again that store owners and the puppy dealers that transport the dogs from the mills to the stores are drowning in their own filthy greed?
Yesterday the government of Wales published the long-awaited document reviewing submissions of comments (“consultations”) by the public. Remarks were submitted by 458 agencies, organizations and individuals in the open period from 19 February – 17 May 2019.
The results are quite as expected. Near unanimous support with a few eye-rollers: the typical fatuous argument that a ban won’t completely end the industry so why bother to do anything at all.
Blue Cross, an animal rescue and rehoming agency active in Wales, Scotland and England since 1897, had this to say:
We don’t agree that just introducing a ban on thirdparty sellers will have any impact on those sellers that make large profits and choose to operate outside the licensing regime. We believe that before introducing a potentially knee jerk piece of legislation, the government must assess the scale of the third party trade in puppies and the impact any such ban would have on licensed large scale breeders.
Blue Cross submission to the Gov’t of Wales Call for Consultation on ending third party sales of dogs and cats. Emphasis ours.
They go on about stricter regulations being the best course. We in the ‘States know this strategy simply does not work as most governments are unwilling to put additional staffing and revenue/expense burdens on those budgets already stretched, which the route of strong restrictions causes en masse.
Flag of Wales
New York City is a showcase for this. NYC’s strong restrictions of dog and cat retail sales have proven near-completely unenforceable and sales go on largely unchecked, while their outright ban of rabbit sales has put a stopper on the rabbit overpopulation problem by directly ending impulse purchases in pet stores.
The English ban is set for enforcement on 1 April 2020. The law was deemed Lucy’s Law after news about a spaniel in a typical puppy mill horror situation achieved viral status in the UK. Lucy was imprisoned in a puppy mill in Wales.
Lucy tugged at the Brit’s heartstrings when photos of her fused hips and curved spine from years of living an empty life of nothing but breeding went viral on social and news media. This image is from a Sky News May 19, 2019, article: ‘Lucy’s Law’ puppy farm ban set to be confirmed.
Welsh activists have called on their government to “beat the English to it.” With Lucy’s Law laid in the spring of this year the Welsh government would have to move swiftly, mandating enforcement in less than 8 months, to win the race of taking this critical step in ending animal cruelty in the British Isles.
Either way, England and Wales are now the de facto model to the world of how a countrywide ban can be enacted through the determination of activists to bring about change.
According to our count, rabbit sales bans now stand at 40 jurisdictions, a 10% increase in rabbit sales bans in the past 3 months.
Recent jurisdictions where rabbit bans were included in ordinances:
Downers Grove, Illinois, 3/2019
Gig Harbor, Washington, 5/2019
Bellevue, Pennsylvania, 6/2019
Royal Oak, Michigan, 6/2019
We keep count of rabbit bans in our Icon Legend section under the Google Map:
Hovering over the icon brings up a larger instance of the related count.Hint: Selecting the icon, its caption or the count number takes you to the Brief section for that category which describes how we arrive at our count and other details.
Our 6 years running Google Map gives specifics, either by drilling down on the map, or referencing the side bar where icon counts are listed by type.
Floating Menu > Maps/Charts > Google Map
Open the side bar with the icon
To reveal
Use the “v” drop down divot or click “….xx more” to see the full list.Royal Oak, Michigan, the most recent ordinance to include rabbit bans, also bans sales of ferrets. Previous Michigan bans included bans on reptiles sales and long-lived birds.
Of interest: New Jersey with over 100 ordinances banning puppy and kitten sales has only 1 jurisdiction we are aware of that bans rabbit sales.
New York does not ban puppy and kitten sales, opting for a nearly unenforceable strong restriction (which should lead them to a full ban in the near future), outlawed the retail sales of rabbits at Christmas 2014.
Yesterday the government of Wales published the long-awaited 
