BURLESON COUNTY, Texas (KRHD) — The ethical pets sales bill would have stopped the sale of dogs and cats from commercial breeders in Texas retail pet stores. Those pets typically have health issues that local rescues deal with.
- State lawmakers failed to pass the ethical pet sales bill during the 89th Texas Legislative Session.
- Haven Animal Rescue of Texas, a pet rescue in Burleson County, houses about 160 pets. The rescue tells 15 ABC that commercial breeders — also known as puppy mills — only make their efforts more difficult.
- Shelby Bobosky, Executive Director of the Texas Humane Legislation Network, tells 15 ABC that they have worked on this bill for six years, and despite wide bipartisan support, their advocacy will have to continue.
- In 2023, the Texas Legislature passed a bill that prevented cities and counties from creating ordinances that could stop the selling of puppies and kittens in pet stores. Bobosky told 15 ABC that 10 stores have opened in the state since then, so without a law, there is not much that regulation can do with this issue.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
“For the next two years, over 25,000 puppies are going to come in from midwestern puppy mills," Executive Director of the Texas Humane Legislation Network Shelby Bobosky said.
That is what pet advocates in Texas are now facing after House Bill 3458 failed to make it out of the Texas Legislature.
“The ethical pet sales bill would only allow retail pet stores to work with local rescues and their local government shelters to do adoptions, but it would ban the sale of puppies and kittens in the State of Texas," said Bobosky.
Bobosky tells 15 ABC that the bill stalled in the Senate.
“These puppies come in, they are not fixed," Bobosky said. "So when they are sold, they are intact, which leads to the backyard breeding problem.”
They also bring health risks, as Steve McCoy with Haven Animal Rescue of Texas tells 15 ABC.
“They're not really controlled breeding it's, it's more of a production type breeding, and so there's health concerns, there's inbreeding concerns, and then there's just the fact that when people get dogs like that that end up needing additional care or special care.”
Haven Animal Rescue of Texas in Burleson County is a rescue with first-hand knowledge of the impact of puppy mills.
“When we get them in and they got heartworm or they got some other kind of disease, the fear of spreading that disease in our county to other dogs is really, really serious," McCoy said.
As they work to get their dogs healthy and into homes, efforts being made here locally and at the state level won’t stop.
15 ABC asked the Texas Humane Legislation Network if they feel this year they got some momentum and maybe two years down the road if it will be a different story.
“We are very frustrated right now, but we never give up, and so they'll see us back in two years at the Capitol," said Bobosky.
