By Sarina Trangle
Cats, dogs and the City Council — oh my.
City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Glendale) said she and City Councilman Corey Johnson (D-Manhattan) helped usher a slate of animal rights bills through the City Council last week.
Despite the mayor’s push to ban horse carriages dividing City Hall, the four bills passed by large majorities.
“Often, pet owners are given misleading information when buying a pet from a pet shop. Today’s bills will help ensure humane treatment and breeding of all new pets purchased in New York City and establish much-needed transparency for concerned consumers,” Crowley said in a statement.
One bill would require the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to license and regulate pet shops, ensuring that they only obtain animals from breeders licensed by the federal government. The measure would ban such stores from selling rabbits, which animal advocates say are too often abandoned to parks and shelters. All but two legislators present supported the measure.
The second piece of legislation would require pet shops to spay or neuter dogs in their care and, under most circumstances, only sell them to customers who fill out related licensing forms.
Two Council members voted against the measure, and two abstained, including City Councilman I. Daneek Miller (D-St. Albans).
Miller’s office said he had concerns about adverse health effects that spraying and neutering have on animals based on studies and his own experiences.
The remaining two bills, which passed unanimously, would mandate that pet shops implant a registered microchip with owners’ contact information in dogs and cats before they leave the store and more clearly prevent pet businesses from violating the animal abuse registration act, according to Crowley.The councilwoman’s office said she is confident Mayor Bill de Blasio will sign the bills into law.
Animal advocates, including the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Humane Society, praised the package.
“The ability of the city to prohibit pet shops from selling puppies and kittens sourced from the worst offending puppy and kitten mills and to require pet shops to disclose to consumers information on the source and background of the animals offered for sale will ultimately result in a greater demand by the public for animals bred in compliance with more humane standards as well as increased adoption of the homeless animals in the city’s shelters,” Christine Mott, chairwoman of the city Bar Association’s Committee on Animal Law, said in a statement.
