By Sandy Trehy
According to the American Humane Association each year in the United States approximately 8 million stray 
We have a terrible pet overpopulation and animal cruelty problem, and finally New York State is poised to make way for a change. New York is one of the last states to maintain regulation of pet dealers solely at the state level. New York State’s pet dealer regulations do not adequately protect dogs in the state’s many commercial breeding facilities. These dogs typically spend their entire lives in tiny, cramped wire-floored cages that are stacked on top of each other—often outdoors, with no protection from the elements. Their puppies, which are purchased in pet stores, online and even on a breeder’s property, often go to their new homes with diseases, parasites or congenital and hereditary conditions. New owners are given the choice of returning sick puppies to pet stores where they will most likely be euthanized, or incurring the often lifetime costs associated with treating these illnesses.
In most cases, local governments are much better-suited to crack down on these pet dealers. If towns and cities across the state want to do better for their residents, their animals and their bottom lines, they should be allowed to do so. State controlled pet dealer regulation is the major road block to communities enacting local laws beyond the state’s ineffective pet dealer law.
What else is broken? Our local governments and animal shelters absorb the costs associated with unregulated breeders and unwanted pet store dogs through cruelty seizures, sheltering costs for relinquished pets, and legal proceedings. These expenses are paid for directly by your taxpayer dollars.
AN ACT to amend the agriculture and markets law and the general business law, in relation to the preemption of local laws, is in the NYS Assembly and Senate right now. Many legislators are hearing from pet industry lobbyists and their retail partners, so it is critical that they hear from animal advocates and taxpayers like you as well! Use this link to the ASPCA Advocacy Center to quickly email your state assembly member and senator in Albany and urge them to pass A.740/S.3753 before New York’s legislative session wraps up in June. Please also call your assembly member and senator! Find their names and phone numbers here. A polite, courteous phone call is the best way to interact directly with legislative offices. You may use the content of the email for talking points, but your message can be as simple as “As your constituent, I ask you to please pass A.740/S.3753, related to local pet dealer regulation, this year.” This is a critical first step to protecting innocent animals and reducing the cost to taxpayers of uncontrolled breeding of dogs for profit.
http://www.capwiz.com/aspca/issues/alert/?alertid=62660136&type=ST