ST. GEORGE — A bill that would have prohibited cities and counties from forcing pet stores to sell only rescued or sheltered animals has been pulled by the bill’s author after concerns over so-called “puppy mills” or animal breeders who mistreat animals.
At the same time, a bill introduced late last week that would ban cities and counties from prohibiting commercial animal businesses, including so-called “puppy mills,” passed the Utah House but may be stalled in the Senate.
The first bill, Sale of Domesticated Animals Amendments, officially designated as HB 158 in the 2022 Utah Legislature and sponsored by local legislator Rep. Rex Shipp, R-Cedar City, would ban Utah cities and counties from requiring pet stores to limit pets for sale to those acquired from shelters or pet rescues.
Opponents of the bill say it would allow stores to continue to acquire animals from dog breeding farms, referred to as “puppy mills.” Such farms are known to keep male and female dogs in cages for their entire lives with the sole purpose of producing puppies. Shipp told St. George News it’s not about looking the other way as far as animal cruelty, but free enterprise.
“In a nutshell, it’s valuable for the public to not only be able to shop for rescue cats and dogs at stores, but also those of breeders,” Shipp said. “We just want people who want to get bred dogs to be able to get them too.”
Eleven cities and counties in Utah have laws that require shelter- or rescue-only pets in pet stores, including Salt Lake City. However, no Southern Utah city has this law. An attempt to pass such a shelter-only law in Hurricane in 2020 didn’t gain traction.
Local animal advocate Andrea Kaz, who has been one of the leaders of a continuing protest against the Puppy House pet stores in Washington City and St. George, said Shipp and other legislators are only doing the bidding of pet store owners.
“I truly cannot understand how someone who is supposed to represent the constituents would allow stores to knowingly sell puppies from puppy mills,” Kaz, a Hurricane resident, said. “I understand that this area is in favor of free commerce, as I believe too, but are they in favor of animal cruelty? Are they in favor of animal euthanasia due to overpopulation? Are they in favor of consumer fraud?”
However, Shipp said it is because of concern over puppy mills that he has pulled the bill from consideration. He said ultimately he would like to see a bill that addresses both the rights of pet stores to concerns about animal treatment.
“What I don’t want to do is exacerbate the problem with puppy mills or places that are mistreating animals so we want to create a more comprehensive bill,” Shipp said. “Those places that are mistreating animals … I don’t like that one bit.”
Dog breeders speak out
Dave Showalter said his Great Dane Gershwin is the tallest in Southern Utah. And when Gershwin stands up on his hind legs and is as tall as Showalter, it may be hard to doubt that.
Showalter said when people see him with Gershwin, they wonder if he has any puppies of the sire for sale. But the St. George resident, who is president of the Red Canyon Kennel Club and a breeder of prized dogs, has other ideas.
“If you want a puppy, I know three different Great Dane shelters and I’ll find you one,” Showalter said. “You’ll pay well less of a thousand dollars.”
When asked whether he was worried forcing pet stores to only sell sheltered animals would hurt him, Showalter said it wouldn’t affect him one bit.
“When stores are selling dogs, they do not come from responsible breeders,” Showalter said. “There isn’t a store in the world that can convince me to sell a puppy I have.”
Showalter said his issue is that stores don’t perform enough checks on whether the pets are disease-free. He added that they obtain their dogs from mass-breeders who he put female dogs in small cages and have them breed continuously until they can’t breed anymore.
“They get their dogs from puppy mills in the midwest where they have 520 dogs in cages,” Showalter said. “How can anybody take care of 500 animals? They aren’t cattle.
“Good breeders are never selling dogs to puppy stores. I don’t want my bloodline, all the years of training and testing, to be put in the store with a dog that died of parvo a few months ago”
Pet store owners and their advocates argue that the government shouldn’t be able to determine what kind of pets they are able to sell in their stores.
But Showalter said that is a false argument.
“I realize a pet store owner is going to say, ‘You can’t tell me what I can sell and not sell.’ Well, yes, we do that with drugs. You can’t sell liquor without a liquor license,” Showalter said. “It isn’t a legitimate argument if you can’t provide the right quality product that is healthy.”
St. George News reached out to several owners of local pet stores – including Andrea Estevez and Chris Chavez of the Puppy House and David Salinas of The Puppy Store in Washington City – for comment and received no response.
However, at a Utah House Committee hearing for a separate animal-related bill on Monday, a consultant for Salinas and The Puppy Store said he was speaking for a pet store owner driven out of California to Utah because of that state passing a shelter/rescue-only law.
“He’s moved here to be able to practice business,” said Kory Holdaway, adding that legislation was needed to “push back on fringe groups moving from one municipality to another trying to stop this activity.”
According to a media account in a local newspaper in San Diego, California, Salinas was ordered by a judge in January 2020 to no longer sell puppies in the five Southern California pet stores he owned because of violating the California law. All five since have been closed, but Salinas now operates five stores in Utah, including The Puppy Store.
Holdaway was speaking in favor of Agricultural Regulations, officially designated HB 476 in the 2022 Utah Legislature, which would ban cities or counties from enacting ordinances or regulations that prevent the operation of commercial animal enterprises that include pet stores as well as rodeos, aquariums, circuses and zoos.
According to HB 476’s author, Rep. Joel Ferry of Brigham City, the purpose of the bill would be to leave such regulatory decisions to the state.
“What this bill is trying to do is when we have a commercial practice across county and city lines, that ultimately the state should be setting the regulations for that,” Ferry said during a Monday hearing before the House Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee.
Shipp, who is a member of that committee, asked Ferry if this would affect city or county ordinances that force pet stores to sell only shelter or rescue pets. Ferry said those would be prohibited unless the state of Utah would pass such a law.
“This would put the onerous on the state, but the stores would be able to determine what they want to sell,” Ferry said.
After advancing past the committee, HB 476 was approved Tuesday 43-28 in the House with all seven local representatives voting in favor of the bill. It now sits in the Senate where it has to be passed by Friday in order to reach the governor’s desk.
Kaz said she is against any idea of making it harder for cities and counties to regulate stores in their communities.
“I am absolutely perplexed as to why any well-informed representative would want to pass such a damaging bill,” Kaz said. “When so many states and cities and counties are striving to go humane, Utah once again steps into the past.”
Check out all of St. George News’ coverage of the 2022 Utah Legislature here.
For a complete list of contacts for Southern Utah representatives and senators, click here.
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