Ban shops from selling cats, dogs

ANIMAL welfare workers rallied today in support of a bill to ban pet shops from selling kittens and puppies.

Doggie Rescue managing director Monika Biernacki said the ban, if made law, would slash the estimated 60,000 dogs euthanased each year in New South Wales pounds and animal shelters.

The number of cats put down every year because they were dumped and no alternative home could be found was much higher, Ms Biernacki said.

"We've just got to stop the over-breeding of animals ... the kill rate is so high, each year it goes up and up, and groups like us are struggling to cope," she said at the rally at NSW Parliament House.

"It is also to stop the impulse buying, to get consumers a little bit more educated about what they are taking on instead of it being about a cute fluffy thing in the window."

The Animals (Regulation of Sale) Bill, introduced in the lower house by independent MP Clover Moore, seeks to ban pet shops from selling cats and dogs, but would not prevent the sale of birds, fish and a wide range of pet products.

People wanting to buy a cat or dog would instead have to go to a registered breeder, the pound or the vet.

Ms Biernacki, whose organisation has 200 dogs rescued from pounds and now available for adoption, said the changes would clamp down on the backyard breeders and puppy farms who stocked the pet stores.

"These puppy mills are driven by profit," she said.

"Animals are not cared for particularly well ... it is mass production."

The proposed ban is supported by the RSPCA and the Humane Society, and Ms Biernacki said pet shops would not be driven out of business.

She said there were businesses that relied solely on sales of pet products and that market was huge.

About 70 people, many with previously abandoned dogs in tow, took part in today's rally.

Reference: www.news.com.au

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