Dallas Bans Sale of Puppies and Kittens

Last week the Dallas City Council Committee passed the Dallas Humane Pet Store Ordinance, banning the sale of cats and dogs in pet stores. The legislation is intended to encourage would-be pet owners to adopt from shelters and to crack down on puppy-mill suppliers, which are infamous for the wretched conditions in which expensive breeds are raised.

When the ordinance takes effect in November, Dallas will join other Texas cities that have enacted similar bans, including Fort Worth, Austin, Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, and Waco.

“Since January 2021, we have been working tirelessly to pass this Ordinance to close the puppy mill pipeline to Dallas to stop hundreds of sick puppies from being shipped from out-of-state puppy mills,” Stacy Sutton Kerby of Texas Humane Legislation Network said in a release. “Over the years, the THLN helpline has regularly received complaints about Dallas retail stores selling sick or unhealthy puppies.”

Oddly enough, the Dallas ban might affect but a single store, Petland, which is the only pet store in Dallas that currently sells dogs and cats. A store spokeswoman told the Dallas Morning News that the ban may force Petland to shut down entirely.

Closing the store might not be a bad thing, as Petland has been the target for criminals coming after high-dollar doggies. Thieves broke in on Christmas Eve 2020 and February 2021, making off with expensive bulldogs and other puppies. Previously Malti-Tzu and Siberian husky puppies have been lifted, and in 2017 an identity thief used a bogus credit card to buy a $7,000 French bulldog.

Photo credit: Chuck Cook / AP Images for The HSUS