They are man’s best friend, the furry felines who make a house a home. Our animal companions are loved just as though they are members of our family. It’s been said that the unconditional love and loyalty of pets can lift depression, ease loneliness and even lower blood pressure. My own family recently grew in size with the adoption of two rescue dogs who bring joy, laughter and love to our lives every single day.
The benefits of animal companionship are endless, but when you know you saved your furry companion from an unpleasant fate, it makes the bond you share that much more meaningful. Unfortunately, too few people consider adoption when looking for a pet. Many choose to purchase their pets from storefront windows under the guise that they are coming from “reputable and licensed breeders.” Sadly, this couldn’t be further from the truth.
We know them as puppy mills, kitten factories and bunny bundlers: the factory-style breeding facilities located in Midwestern states notorious for putting profit above the welfare of animals. These facilities house animals in disturbingly unsanitary and overcrowded conditions, often without adequate food, water, socialization or veterinary care. Females are forced to breed at every opportunity, with little to no recovery in between litters, only to be discarded and killed when they can no longer reproduce.
The animals that do survive are plucked from their mothers much too young, only to be shipped across state lines and plopped into local pet storefronts. Unsuspecting consumers then purchase these animals believing their new family member to be healthy and genetically sound. In reality, the animals often face an array of behavioral issues and health problems due to the atrocious conditions in which they are bred and shipped. This not only results in hefty veterinary bills, but also heartbreak and emotional distress for their owners.
As more than 10,000 puppy mills throughout the U.S. continue to churn out puppies, kittens and bunnies, California taxpayers are paying a quarter of a billion dollars annually to house and kill animals in local shelters. While we may not have the authority to regulate these out-of-state facilities, we can cut off the demand for their “products.”
I have introduced Assembly Bill 485, which will help put an end to the inhumane breeding industry responsible for unhealthy animals and animal overpopulation. This legislation will ensure local pet stores in California exclusively sell dogs, cats and rabbits obtained through shelters or animal-rescue organizations. As a result, thousands of rescue animals will have the chance to get out of shelters and into storefronts, eventually finding their forever homes.
You too can join our movement to end breeding mills. In addition to sending a letter of support for AB 485, I encourage animal lovers to get involved with your local animal shelters or rescue organizations. Animal Care Services in Long Beach provides a number of volunteer opportunities, while activist groups like Friends of Long Beach Animals are fantastic resources for staying involved. You can’t buy love, but you can adopt it from an animal shelter.
Postscript: If you would like to express your support for AB 485, please visit a70.asmdc.org, or to find other state representatives, go to findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov.
This is an excellent bill and one that is truly needed. An individual only has to go to a local shelter and look into the sad and scared eyes of innocent animals who are essentially on death row, to realize more needs to be done to end animal breeding and make shelters the only place to adopt an animal. The city of San Francisco recently adopted a new law that prohibits animals other than rescues to be sold in pet stores. It’s time we end the slaughter of animals to curb the pet population and demand no more puppy, kitten or bunny mills!
This is a long overdue measure. We are delighted to see that this is being seriously considered now. We started the South County Animal Shelter Coalition many years ago in South Orange County CA. and although we have now moved to Oceanside, CA we remain active in doing all that we can to correct this terrible situation of out of control breeding of CA. pets that cause the deaths of countless animals every year in animal shelters, while all taxpayers who don’t support this breeding for sale continue to pay for for the killing of all these animals that we don’t want to be killed.
I jumped up and cheered when I heard of the introduction of Assembly Bill 485 by Assemblyman Patrick O’Donnell which seeks to end the inhumane breeding of companion animals. Growing up in the Los Angeles area all of us kids knew what happened when animals went to the pound or shelter: they never came out. And lurid tales abounded of the “machines”.and chambers that “put the animals to sleep”.I remember well how some of the neighborhood kids would band together to keep some of the strays from the pound. It was only the “adults” who bought into the specious concept that the animal population needed to be “controlled” by these fiendish means It was a glaring fact: there were far too few homes for the animals..But now a spark of humane consciousness has taken root, and I am pleased to lend my support to aid in the passage of this long overdue legislation.Legislation that seeks to halt the surplus production of pets. As Jack London noted in his great anti-animal-cruelty novel Michael Brother of Jerry: “Practically all of us will weep red tears …. But not one-tenth of one per cent. of us will join any organization for the prevention of cruelty to animals, and by our words and acts and contributions work to prevent the perpetration of cruelties on animals. This is a weakness of our own human nature”.
Please end the enabling of animal cruelty ;(
I assume you support choice for women but not choice for consumers. Commercial breeders are licensed and inspected by the GOVERNMENT. The same government you trust to inspect our food supply. If they can do that they can inspect commercial breeders. It seems you have little faith in the government system and believe what you are told by zealots and activists. I wonder why you are in a government position if you want to criticize and demean your fellow officials. Change needs to come from within not by taking the choices from consumers. I wonder if you have ever been to a commercial breeding facility. My guess would be no as you have no idea what they are really like by reading your descriptions.
Pass the bill
Please do not pass this as a concieious breeder of show and meat rabbits you will not benifit my livestock by this. Go after the bad guys and lrave good farmers and breeders alone.
This is helpful. As a volunteer at my local county animal shelter, i do see many lovable animals in need of a home, a second chance, deserving of a good life. And people who don’t care for animals properly should not have the luxury of making money from breeding them. Shut them down! Stop the abuse! Adopt Don’t Shop! Spay & Neuter!
This article appealed to current animal lovers, but what about those on the fence? There are an estimated 10,000 puppy mills in the US, breeding 2 million puppies annually. The American Kennel Club has repeatedly lobbied to defeat legislation just like AB485 in order to keep breeding popular. In fact, the AKC makes almost 100 million each year from the registrations they charge puppy mill breeders for membership! It’s criminal!
The California public needs to know that this is happening! Read more info here: https://www.usa-focus.org/dog-breeding/
Brilliant idea.
As someone said before; “There are an estimated 10,000 puppy mills in the US, breeding 2 million puppies annually. The American Kennel Club has repeatedly lobbied to defeat legislation just like AB485 in order to keep breeding popular. In fact, the AKC makes almost 100 million each year from the registrations they charge puppy mill breeders for membership! It’s criminal!
The California public needs to know that this is happening! Read more info here: https://www.usa-focus.org/dog-breeding “
Animals diserve only love and rispect, its so wrong in so many leveys to hurt them!!!!?