Feel-Good Crusade Hurts Humans and Pets
Wednesday, October 15, 2025
John Stossel comments on a movement that is banning pet sales in stores state-by-state.
As is often the case with such crusades, the goal (forcibly stopping stores from selling pets) -- immoral to begin with -- both fails to achieve its alleged purpose (making pet breeding more humane) and actively harms people (by crippling or killing their livelihoods):
[M]any pet stores rely on selling dogs and cats. After all, they're pet stores.It is notable that Republicans -- once assumed to be the pro-business party -- might as well be Democrats as far as this issue is concerned.
After California banned sales, say pet store advocates, 95 percent of the impacted stores went out of business.
...Animal activists say the bans are the only way to get rid of abusive puppy mills.
But [lobbyist Alyssa] Miller-Hurley points out, "A decade ago, they said there were over 10,000 puppy mills within the United States. Since then, eight states and hundreds of localities have passed these retail sales bans."
The result? They still say there are 10,000 mills.
So "by their own measurements, these bans aren't successful," she continues. "What they are successful at is fundraising ... .They aren't actually actively engaged in any real animal care."
I don't know offhand whether my home state, Louisiana, bans the sale of dogs and cats in retail establishments, but I have my own ancedata to add to this story.
About a year ago, we purchased two cats from a breeder because we wanted a breed less likely to cause problems for our son, who tests revealed might be allergic.
The breeder was a complete lunatic whom I'll never deal with again. Among other things, she: bombarded us via text with incomprehensible word salads ahead of the delivery times, needed to be reminded of how many cats we had ordered (in writing (!), at her earlier request (!)), gave us contradictory or incorrect information about the cats, attempted to charge me cash on the second pick-up despite having apparently made it clear that check was fine (and there having been no issue with the prior payment by check), and (of course!) gave us a kitten the second time that turned out to have fleas.
So, not only do honest businessmen get hurt, customers and pets do, at the end of the day.
But, hey! Forcing people like me to deal with jackhandles like that -- instead of people who understand the value of a good reputation -- makes "animal lovers" feel good, so I guess there's that.
-- CAV
P.S. Yes, we dealt with this person twice because our first order was for two cats and she gave a plausible-enough reason for not being able to fulfill it. I wasn't thrilled about using her again, but she was (I thought!) a known quantity. That freak flag really flew after that second deposit came in.
2 comments:
I generally favor going straight to the breeder if you have the time, because you get to spend time getting to know the animal. You get a feel for their temperament with other animals, and it's less disruptive going from one place directly to the new home. You also get a feel for the skills and temperament, good or bad, of the breeder. (One dog care book I got goes into what to look for in great detail.) But that's best if you have the time. We got our dog from a pet store, not a breeder, and it was a decent establishment, small but well enough furnished. (On the other hand, they didn't get the latest rabies vaccine administered on schedule, so we had the irritation of doing that late when we went on vacation and had to put him in a kennel.) The only problem was that the poor boy's ribs were showing because he was not happy in a cage like that, but his ribs went into hiding again within a month, and there were no behavioral problems.
That's a good idea, and one I hope to try next time. In this case, though, the breeder, whom my wife contacted first, said something about a fellow breeder having been a crime victim, and so wanting to limit contact to the day of the transaction.
Maybe we can also add, "Consult with more than one breeder, if possible." (In our case, with the rarity of the breed, I am not sure we could have. But, boy howdy, I'll try!)
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