City should ban sale of mill-bred pets

The city of Burbank is considering an ordinance to ban the retail sale of dogs and cats that come from commercial breeding mills. I fully support such an ordinance, as I adopted a dog who had lived eight years of her life in a puppy mill as a breeding mother.

She endured extreme weather conditions, breeding litter after litter with no vet care, no exercise and no human touch. She now has a permanent hernia from being over-bred, and she has no teeth, as they were so rotten that they had to be removed. Her fur was so matted and so full of fleas and ticks that it took several attempts to remove it. Her feet were raw and bleeding on the bottom from standing on wire her whole life. She was not socialized and shied away from any human contact. She had to literally learn how to be a dog.

Pet stores make huge profits selling puppies while the mothers and fathers of these puppies live in squalor for their whole lives. Unsuspecting customers are told that the stores only use good breeders, although they obtain their dogs from puppy mills. If you buy a puppy from a pet store, you’re buying into animal cruelty. The public should know exactly where that cute puppy in the window actually comes from.

Other cities have passed similar ordinances, so it’s time that Burbank proved what a humane and progressive city it is by doing the same.

Lindsay Reeves
Burbank