Kris Roberts, Owner, Terror in a Box Exotics, Gadsden, AL Keith Evans, VP/GM, Petland Montgomery, Montgomery, AL Mobile, ALĬaleb Gibson, Mr., Gibsons auto service, SUMMERDALE, AL Vice President, Government Relations, American Kennel Clubīill Trufant, President, B & B Pet Stop, Inc. President, National Animal Interest Alliance President, Pet Industry Distributors Association President & CEO, Pet Industry Joint Advisory CouncilĮxecutive Vice President & COO, American Pet Products Association If you have any questions or need additional information, we in the responsible pet care community stand ready to help you safeguard both human and animal health and well-being. With your help, we can ensure that more families are able to enjoy the demonstrated health benefits of the human-animal bond with a healthy pet, whether it be a dog, cat, rabbit, guinea pig, fish, turtle or any of the myriad of the other animals that provide wonderful companionship. Improving oversight and enforcement of existing regulations for those who breed, raise or import pets for commercial sale or resale in order to eliminate the bad actors that do not prioritize the animals’ health and well-being should be the focus of efforts to address animal care across the country – not targeting pet stores. In effect, they take the most regulated sources of pets out of the market - the opposite of their intended effect of ensuring the verified conditions that healthy pets are born and raised in. As a result, bans on pet store sales do a great disservice to pet purchasers by nullifying existing consumer protections and by hurting the breeders and distributors who are following the rules and producing quality pets. The greatest misconception about pet stores is that they source their animals from unscrupulous, illegal breeders and distributors. In reality, responsible pet stores connect their community with reputable sources of pets they might not otherwise be able to reach. The Better Business Bureau reports that pet scams more than doubled during the pandemic, with victims losing over $3 million in the past 12 months. When prospective pet purchasers can’t find the pet they are seeking, they often turn to the unregulated market where fraud and scams are rampant. They are inspected regularly, provide veterinary care to their animals, keep detailed records, and in many states provide legal protections such as warranties-delivering reassurance to prospective pet owners that is not available from most other commercial animal sources. In addition to being a trusted resource that pet owners turn to for expert advice, products and services to appropriately care for their beloved companions, responsible community pet stores are a transparent and highly-regulated source for pets. With this in mind, we urge you to consider the positive role pet stores play in connecting people with their ideal companion animals and helping to provide for their care. We commend your dedication to protecting pets and pet owners alike through regulation and legislation. The responsible pet care community is deeply concerned for the health and well-being of companion animals – they are the heart of what we do every single day. households own a pet, which equates to 90.5 million homes, according to the 2021-2022 APPA National Pet Owners Survey. This is supported by the statistic that 70% of U.S. Pets play an important role in people’s lives, a fact that became even more evident as millions of new pets were brought into American homes during the pandemic, helping our population cope with the stresses of an unprecedented global crisis. Open Letter to Federal, State & Local Government Officials on the Sale of Pets in Pet Stores
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