Oshawa considers banning sale of puppies and kittens in pet stores
Oshawa pet store owner opposes ban

Durhamregion.com
June 5, 2014
By Reka Szekely

Animal advocates say selling puppies and kittens in pet stores is contributing to Oshawa’s pet overpopulation problem and have asked the City to ban the practice.

Oshawa City staff supported the move last week in a report to the City’s community services committee which voted to instruct staff to begin work on a bylaw amendment on the issue. Part of the bylaw amendment process would include consulting pet store owners and the public before the bylaw was passed.

Kelli Polsinelli, an Oshawa resident and wildlife rehabilitator, initially suggested the ban in March. She returned to last week’s community services meeting with more than a dozen animal welfare advocates who support the ban.

She said banning the sale of puppies and kittens would prevent people from impulse buying pets and later surrendering them and would help the problem of pet overpopulation in Oshawa, reducing the number of animals euthanized in shelters. Ms. Polsinelli suggested that instead of selling animals, pet stores should offer animals from shelters for adoption. Animal advocates cite PetSmart as a good example of a pet store that does just that.

“I’m confident this will help thousands of unwanted animals,” she said of the proposed ban.

People who want to purchase a specific breed of dog could still do so from a registered breeder, said Ms. Polsinelli.

“I don’t know any registered breeder that will sell to a pet store, as a matter of fact I believe it’s against their code of ethics to do so,” she said.

Wes Mauch, owner of Mauch’s Pet Superstore on King Street West in Oshawa, strongly opposed the ban, saying it may cause his store to close its doors. Mr. Mauch said his store has been operating in Oshawa for 25 years and the ban would have a big impact. The pet store sources its puppies from between 600 and 700 breeders in Ontario, he said.

“Is the City quietly trying to put a long-standing family business out of business?” he asked.

Mr. Mauch argued that his store helps animals, particularly by taking in unwanted kittens to the tune of 300 per year. The store also sells about 150 to 200 puppies per year.

He argued that the bigger problem is people selling pets online on sites like Kijiji, where there’s no guarantee for the animals sold and they may not be vet checked as his animals are.

“If you’d like to relieve the perceived burden, then target the online pop-up seller,” he said, adding that at any given time there are thousands of puppies and kittens for sale in the GTA online.

Municipalities that have enacted similar bans include Pickering, Toronto, Vaughan and Mississauga. The animal advocates speaking to council said they would soon be taking their message to Richmond Hill council and Ms. Polsinelli said she believed more and more municipalities would move towards banning the sale of puppies and kittens in pet stores.

“I believe they have two choices, they can get involved with animal welfare issues or they can move elsewhere,” she said of pet store owners.