Original Article: https://blog.theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/madison-alabama-outlaws-puppy-mills/

It’s good news coming out of a city in Alabama after the Madison City Council voted to pass a new pet shop ordinance that is outlawing the practice of puppy and kitten mills within the city limits. This was passed during a recent city council meeting that took place on the 28th of December.

As the ordinance states, going forward, all dogs and cats who are sold inside retail stores will have to come from rescue organizations or animal shelters. In addition, the animals who are being put up for sale can’t be younger than eight weeks old.

This means that all pet stores in Madison will need to maintain detailed records of all the dogs and cats they are selling – including the name and address of the organization from which they were obtained. This information is to be displayed on each animal’s cage.

According to News 19, the new ordinance has gone into effect as of the 1st of January, making Madison the eleventh city in the state of Alabama – alongside Anniston, Albertville, Athens, Boaz, Florence, Guntersville, Huntsville, Jasper, Muscle Shoals, and Tuscaloosa – to pass such a law to protect dogs and cats.

It’s well-known that puppy mills have horrific living conditions for their animals involved as they care more about the profits than the animals themselves. They will often cut corners and it is the animals who suffer.

Dogs are bred on a non-stop basis, living in squalid conditions and getting little-to-no veterinary care. They are left out in their tiny cages during all kinds of weather conditions. Once the female dogs are no longer able to produce puppies, they’re often inhumanly dumped or killed. Of course, the puppies who are born into these establishments are usually taken away from their mothers way too young – which can result in poor health or behavior issues later in life.

These facilities may be either licensed or unlicensed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). It is estimated that there are approximately 10,000 puppy mills – both licensed and unlicensed – operating in the US. This would mean they’re breeding about two million puppies every year! These awful institutions are found throughout the US, however, there seems to be a higher cluster of them in the Midwestern region. In order to be able to sell an animal to a pet shop, the breeder needs to have a license, but as is the case with the puppy mill practice, many will not have proper documentation.

It will take a long time to fully get these horrific places shut down and put out of business, but it’s nice to know that more cities seem to be taking the welfare of animals more seriously with such city ordinances. Hopefully we’ll see more of these laws enacted around the country.

What do you think of the city of Madison’s new ordnance? Let us know!

Source: The Animal Rescue Site Blog