Saying they're protecting legitimate businesses, a state House panel voted Thursday to block Arizona cities from banning pet stores selling animals they get from commercial breeders.
The legislation is aimed at ordinances in Tempe and Phoenix which allow pet stores to sell only shelter and rescue animals. Proponents said that's unnecessary since legitimate pet shops buy from breeders regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
But Queen Creek resident Leslie Knott told lawmakers that's hardly a standard that guarantees animals are raised in a humane way.
"The USDA allows for dogs to be kept in cages that are not bigger than six inches in any direction for their entire lives, never to see the light of day, touch the ground, to receive human kindness, solely for the purpose of breeding to make money for the commercial farm owners," Knott said.
And Nicole Galvan of Tempe spoke about adopting a dog that had been used for breeding. She said the animal's legs were deformed from having to stand only in a cage her whole life. And Galvan said the dog's teeth were so bad from chewing on her cage and the lack of dental care that they had to be removed and the animal now has to be fed by hand.
"The USDA standards are clearly not adequate," she said. "That's why we passed these ordinances."
But Rep. Karen Fann, R-Prescott, said it is absolutely appropriate for the Legislature to step in and set a single standard for pet sales, if for no other reason than customers from one city where commercial breeding is banned can simply go across the street to another city where it is not.
Anyway, Fann said, it is the role of lawmakers to fix a problem with measures like this. "We do not shut down businesses. We do not start dictating to businesses where they can buy their products or how they can sell their products," she said.
The approval from the Committee on Agriculture, Water and Land sends the measure to the full House.