Council approves ban on retail pet sales
By Lindsey Bomnin | Thursday, July 29, 2010, 01:41 PM
The Austin City Council banned retail sales of cats and dogs at today’s meeting, according to David Lundstedt, vice chair of the Austin Animal Advisory Commission.
The commission had asked the council to enact an ordinance for such a ban, which passed during today’s consent agenda.
“This is the perfect time to have this law passed because it won’t affect any local businesses,” Lundstedt said. “But it will keep any future businesses from selling puppies and kittens.”
Lundstedt and the commission had been pushing for the ban since Petland opened a store here at least two years ago. Critics had said Petland was associated with puppy mills. The store, a franchise of an Ohio-based chain, closed July 18 because of the proposed ban, its sales manager said at the time.
Austin joins other cities like Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Albuquerque, N.M., Lake Tahoe, Nev. and West Hollywood, Calif. in enacting this kind of ban, Lundstedt said.
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/cityhall/entries/2010/07/29/county_approves_ban_on_pet_ret.html
