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People and animals are in this constant tug of war. Is it not obvious the animals, save the odd unlucky lion, are winning?
The City of Ottawa is reviewing the bylaw that regulates pet stores, contemplating a ban on the sale of dogs, cats and rabbits, except through a third-party adoption process.
In other words, how much — longer — is that doggie in the window?
There are only 16 licensed pet shops in Ottawa and, of those, only three sell cats, dogs or rabbits obtained from “commercial breeders.”
Mike Haynes, 59, owns two of them, under the Pet World banner. When I stopped by one day, he had exactly one dog for sale, one cat, two sold kittens awaiting pickup and a couple of dwarf rabbits.
“Oh yeah, here are the puppy mill dogs,” he said, sarcastically indicating Charlie, the lone “snoodle” pup, happily sleeping at the back of the Bayshore store.
He usually has no more than three or four dogs in each store, and maybe the same number of cats. In business for 35 years, he has established relationships with a handful of animal breeders and has often visited their premises.
They are not, he assures, puppy mills. He’s so confident of his supply lines he’s given the city a list of his breeders and encouraged bylaw officers to visit and inspect.
Haynes and the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council of Canada make the same central point: they are both against puppy mills. They just don’t see pet stores as part of the problem, but rather a force to promote animal welfare and responsible ownership.
The council points to surveys that indicate between four and 10 per cent of Canadian dogs and cats were bought at a pet store. Haynes, meanwhile, looks at the 3,000-plus ads in the online marketplace, Kijiji, and suggests there’s the real problem.
It is a sizable demand on the table: the city is, in effect, considering taking the pet out of pet stores.
The parties go before a city committee March 21. It will hear from the persuasive Eileen Woodside, who founded the group PAWS (Puppymill Awareness Working Solutions) about three years ago. She supports the ban.
“The retail sale of pets has always been bad news for animals and consumers. These animals sold in pet stores are not coming from ethical, responsible breeders.”
She’s quite defiant on this point: industry claims to the contrary, she is convinced pet stores deal with shady suppliers.
“We don’t need to be supporting more animals coming into pet stores from anonymous sources to be sold for profit to impulse purchasers.”
Woodside has helped care for animals seized from puppy mills and says there is an over-abundance of cats and dogs waiting to be adopted to good homes, not to mention “millions” of unwanted ones euthanized every year.
“I have seen the cruelty and the abuse first-hand. If people could see what I’ve seen, they wouldn’t willingly support this industry.”
Even though the pet store numbers are low, Woodside says, this is an important sector to change.
“What we can control is what we are willing to accept in our city.” (A PAWS survey in one month estimated 17 puppies were sold at one store, a figure projected to roughly 600 dogs per year, across the city.)
She’d like the three remaining retailers to do what other stores have done: have “adoption days” when outside agencies, like the Ottawa Humane Society, come in with dogs and cats that need a home.
What a difference a generation has wrought.
When I was a kid, dogs just roamed the urban jungle. Now we microchip our “companions”, send them to puppy school, fuss over their diet, brag about their “rescue” lineage, assign them special city parks, scoop their poop, clean their teeth, get them professional groomed, give them Twitter accounts (@itsdougthepug), and never, ever let them go astray.
When I walk Henry on cold mornings, he wears boots, maybe a coat. Sometimes we meet one of his pals, a jittery pooch on anti-depressants. There are groups out there fighting for animal rights and freedoms enshrined in law, like a charter, and object to the concept of “owning” the pet. You bet it’s a dog life, Your Honour.
Honestly, I don’t think you can license pet stores and forbid them from selling pets. Hard to make a living selling guppies and budgies. They clearly aren’t the main problem behind puppy mills anyway.
Barking up the wrong tree? Sounds like it.
To contact Kelly Egan, please call 613-726-5896 or email kegan@postmedia.com.
twitter.com/kellyegancolumn
查看原文...
The City of Ottawa is reviewing the bylaw that regulates pet stores, contemplating a ban on the sale of dogs, cats and rabbits, except through a third-party adoption process.
In other words, how much — longer — is that doggie in the window?
There are only 16 licensed pet shops in Ottawa and, of those, only three sell cats, dogs or rabbits obtained from “commercial breeders.”
Mike Haynes, 59, owns two of them, under the Pet World banner. When I stopped by one day, he had exactly one dog for sale, one cat, two sold kittens awaiting pickup and a couple of dwarf rabbits.
“Oh yeah, here are the puppy mill dogs,” he said, sarcastically indicating Charlie, the lone “snoodle” pup, happily sleeping at the back of the Bayshore store.
He usually has no more than three or four dogs in each store, and maybe the same number of cats. In business for 35 years, he has established relationships with a handful of animal breeders and has often visited their premises.
They are not, he assures, puppy mills. He’s so confident of his supply lines he’s given the city a list of his breeders and encouraged bylaw officers to visit and inspect.
Haynes and the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council of Canada make the same central point: they are both against puppy mills. They just don’t see pet stores as part of the problem, but rather a force to promote animal welfare and responsible ownership.
The council points to surveys that indicate between four and 10 per cent of Canadian dogs and cats were bought at a pet store. Haynes, meanwhile, looks at the 3,000-plus ads in the online marketplace, Kijiji, and suggests there’s the real problem.
It is a sizable demand on the table: the city is, in effect, considering taking the pet out of pet stores.
The parties go before a city committee March 21. It will hear from the persuasive Eileen Woodside, who founded the group PAWS (Puppymill Awareness Working Solutions) about three years ago. She supports the ban.
“The retail sale of pets has always been bad news for animals and consumers. These animals sold in pet stores are not coming from ethical, responsible breeders.”
She’s quite defiant on this point: industry claims to the contrary, she is convinced pet stores deal with shady suppliers.
“We don’t need to be supporting more animals coming into pet stores from anonymous sources to be sold for profit to impulse purchasers.”
Woodside has helped care for animals seized from puppy mills and says there is an over-abundance of cats and dogs waiting to be adopted to good homes, not to mention “millions” of unwanted ones euthanized every year.
“I have seen the cruelty and the abuse first-hand. If people could see what I’ve seen, they wouldn’t willingly support this industry.”
Even though the pet store numbers are low, Woodside says, this is an important sector to change.
“What we can control is what we are willing to accept in our city.” (A PAWS survey in one month estimated 17 puppies were sold at one store, a figure projected to roughly 600 dogs per year, across the city.)
She’d like the three remaining retailers to do what other stores have done: have “adoption days” when outside agencies, like the Ottawa Humane Society, come in with dogs and cats that need a home.
What a difference a generation has wrought.
When I was a kid, dogs just roamed the urban jungle. Now we microchip our “companions”, send them to puppy school, fuss over their diet, brag about their “rescue” lineage, assign them special city parks, scoop their poop, clean their teeth, get them professional groomed, give them Twitter accounts (@itsdougthepug), and never, ever let them go astray.
When I walk Henry on cold mornings, he wears boots, maybe a coat. Sometimes we meet one of his pals, a jittery pooch on anti-depressants. There are groups out there fighting for animal rights and freedoms enshrined in law, like a charter, and object to the concept of “owning” the pet. You bet it’s a dog life, Your Honour.
Honestly, I don’t think you can license pet stores and forbid them from selling pets. Hard to make a living selling guppies and budgies. They clearly aren’t the main problem behind puppy mills anyway.
Barking up the wrong tree? Sounds like it.
To contact Kelly Egan, please call 613-726-5896 or email kegan@postmedia.com.
twitter.com/kellyegancolumn
查看原文...
