Support Passage of AB 485

On Tuesday, April 18, the State Assembly Committee on Business and Professions will consider AB 485, the Pet Rescue and Adoption Act. Following in the highly successful footsteps of similar ordinances in Long Beach, Los Angeles and 31 other California cities, this bill will, if enacted, require that dogs, cats, and rabbits offered for retail sale be obtained solely from public or private animal shelters within the state, or from non-profit rescue groups.

Assemblyman Patrick O'Donnell, author of the bill, says, "Inhumane breeding facilities are mass-producing animals for sale to the public, even as overcrowded shelters euthanize millions of dogs and cats each year.” The enactment of this bill will slam California’s door to these infamous “puppy mills” and their like.

According to Social Compassion In Legislation President Judie Mancuso, who spearheaded the original bill passed by the City of Los Angeles, "The introduction of AB 485 will give thousands and thousands of shelter and rescued animals a chance of finding their forever homes by getting out of the shelters and into storefronts."

Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Koretz said, “The 2012 ordinance to prohibit pet stores from selling dogs, cats, and rabbits that do not come from shelters or rescues has struck a blow against the puppy mill industry. We believe it is also increasing pet adoptions at our local shelters, which means pet shops are becoming a part of the solution, not the problem, in combating pet overpopulation."

The unspeakable cruelty that inhumane breeding facilities rain down on defenseless animals has been most recently exposed in the January 3rd issue of Rolling Stone magazine in an article titled “The Dog Factory: Inside the Sickening World of Puppy Mills – an investigation into the underworld of America's overcrowded dog farms, the secret shame of the pet industry.” You can find the article online with alarming photos.

Read the article. It will break your heart and strengthen your resolve to do all that is within your power as a citizen to bring an end to this industry that is driven by nothing but greed and the utter lack of humanity.

Unfortunately, the opposition has hired lobbyists to fight the passage of AB 485.

Please email O’Donnell’s Legislative Assistant Christine Aurre at Christine.Aurre@asm.ca.gov to express your support for this bill.