[britishbandit]

OY, here's another article from the Windsor Star today on the subject.


A caution to the commission
Windsor Star
Published: Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Concerned there may a link between cruel puppy breeding mills and area pet shops, the city's licensing commission is investigating whether the sale of puppies should be banned in city pet stores.

Administrators are preparing a report on the controversial issue and will also explore whether such a ban would encourage people to adopt strays from the Humane Society, thus lowering the number of dogs that are euthanized each year.

The city should proceed very carefully here because pet stores are private businesses and banning them from selling pets is like banning computer stores from selling computers. It could easily put some stores, particularly smaller ones, out of business as residents bought puppies from other sources, including other municipalities.


Mike Drouillard, the owner of Corbret's Pets, a fixture in Windsor for more than three decades, said he would have no choice but to shutter up his two stores and leave town if Windsor banned him from selling puppies, which account for about 50 per cent of his business. Not only would the city lose several jobs if that transpired but it would lose the $135,000 Drouillard pays in municipal property taxes.

Coun. Alan Halberstadt, a member of the city's licensing commission, says he has yet to encounter any solid evidence that would convince him to support a ban. If the commission does dredge up some evidence a ban would reduce cruelty to animals, it best be compelling and irrefutable given the economic hardship a ban could potentially create.

The local humane society already keeps tabs on pet stores, monitoring the pedigree of each puppy, which helps ensure puppies from mills don't wind up in area homes. Breeders who fail to meet acceptable standards can be fined up to $60,000 and face up to two years in jail under amendments to the Ontario SPCA Act in 2002. This should be sufficient to protect both puppies and new owners from purchasing dogs raised in the sub-standard conditions of a puppy mill, where dogs are treated poorly so the owner can maximize profits.

The city should ensure anyone running a puppy mill -- or selling puppies churned out by one -- is prosecuted to the full extent of the law. But city officials would be barking up the wrong tree, and needlessly interfering in the market place, if they banned the sale of puppies in pet stores.

The city should proceed very carefully here because pet stores are private businesses and banning them from selling pets is like banning computer stores from selling computers. It could easily put some stores, particularly smaller ones, out of business as residents bought puppies from other sources, including other municipalities.

Well if that isn't just the worst comparison they could've made. Comparing the sale of living animals with computers. Ok everyone, please be sure to have your PC's and laptops altered, we don't want any unethical breeding of your motherboards. Please don't keep them locked in cages laying in their own urine and feces. And for heavens sake, don't abuse and neglect those computers, it may cause them physical and psychological damage. What a crock of......... It's really amazing what people will do and say to "get what they want". What will they come up with next?

It's also brining up economical issues. Saying if they banned the sale of puppies in the pet stores, the city would lose money if the owners up and left to do it somewhere where it wasn't banned. OH WELL, not really such a big loss, since there's only 3 pet stores in Windsor that actually sell puppies. Two of them are owned by Corbrets, the store in question here. The other, is a store that mainly sells exotics (rarely ever puppies), such as lizards, snakes, turtles, spiders, chinchillas, sugar gliders....etc. Who obviously aren't kicking up a fuss, since a ban of selling puppies wouldn't really affect them.