Dennis RomeroAll the cool City Hall kids are doing it — banning retail pet sales in an attempt to squeeze out puppy mills accused of breeding cats and dogs in brutal and inhumane conditions.
The L.A. City Council passed a pet sales ban this fall after the city of West Hollywood did so in 2010.
The thing is, there's always the internet:
With the help of actor/activist Ben Stein, the International Fund for Animal Welfare released the results of an online puppy mill study in Los Angeles today.
The organization says 62 percent of the 10,000 online canine ads it examined in one day likely represented puppy mill products.
The overall ads it examined were for as many as half-a-million pets on 9 major websites, according to the IFAW.
Ben Stein:
Credit: ifaw.org
Consumers opting to purchase puppies over the Internet are duped into believing they are buying from reputable breeders. The cute puppy images shown on many seller websites hide the heartbreaking reality of the overcrowded and unsanitary conditions in which the dogs are housed.
The organization is clearly suggesting tighter federal rules. Tracy Coppola, IFAW campaigns officer:
Most federal regulations designed to address the puppy trade pre-date the Internet and are insufficient in addressing the specific issues relating to online puppy sales. We launched our investigation to determine the scope and scale of the trade in an effort to better inform decision-makers as they are currently considering new policies to eliminate loopholes allowing this practice to continue.
Read more about the study here.
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