‘Puppy mill’ bill signed into law by Gov. Cuomo

New Yorkers interested in stopping the sale of dogs bred in puppy mills got a boost from the State Legislature this week.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Friday signed legislation, passed near the end of the 2013 legislative session, that authorizes local municipalities to adopt their own laws regulating or licensing pet dealers.

Previously, state law blocked local governments from enacting their own pet dealer laws.

The Suffolk County Legislature in 2011 was considering a county law that would have banned most sales of puppies by pet stores in Suffolk. A bill authored by former legislator Jon Cooper was aimed at stopping the sale of dogs bred in puppy mills — large dog-breeding operations, most of them out of state, which are accused of cruelty by animal rights activists. Cooper’s measure would have banned the retail sale of puppies in pet stores, unless the puppies are from an animal shelter or a Suffolk County breeder.

A month after a three-hour public hearing on the measure, Cooper announced he would withdraw his bill on the advice of counsel to the legislature that state law precluded local legislation that would restrict or altogether ban the retail sale of puppies at pet stores in Suffolk County.

Cooper, who left the county legislature at the end of 2011 due to term limits, said yesterday he is delighted by the change in state law that will allow local legislation to address the sale of puppy-mill puppies by pet stores.

“It’s very exciting,” Cooper said. “For those that support the humane treatment of animals, this is a big step.”

He said he is not sure which current legislator might introduce a bill like the one he offered in 2011, which he said he thought had majority support at the time. But he is hopeful someone will.

“We had a lot of allies and a boatload of ammunition,” Cooper said.

One ally was Pamela Green, executive director of Kent Animal Shelter in Calverton. She  told legislators that all pet stores on Long Island obtained their dogs from puppy mills. 

“Puppy mills are purveyors of animal cruelty for the purpose of profit,” Green testified during the June 21, 2011 public hearing.

The conditions dogs at these facilities live in are squalid and inhumane, she said.

“Thirty-two weeks out of every year, female dogs are either nursing, mating or pregnant,” Green told legislators. She said Kent has seen many dogs rescued from puppy mills whose “physical appearance indicates severe neglect.”

Several pet dealers testified against Cooper’s measure. They argued that they purchased dogs only from reputable breeders.

Had Cooper’s bill become law, Suffolk would have been the first municipality in the state to ban retail sales of puppies at pet stores.

Cooper said before he left office he had been contacted by State Senator Mark Grisanti (R-Buffalo) and Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal (D-Manhattan), who would ultimately sponsor the new law signed yesterday by the governor.

“I sent them copies of my bill and told them what I was trying to accomplish,” Cooper said. “I’m glad they persevered and in the end prevailed.”

The new state law, known as the puppy mill bill, is a “victory for animals” and “represents a watershed moment for animal protection in New York State,” Rosenthal said in yesterday’s press release. Municipalities across the state will now be able to “pass tough new laws to crack down on puppy mills and bad breeders who place profit above the health and safety of animals,” she said, citing an upstate breeder who recently left nearly 100 dogs outside for days to freeze to death in arctic-like weather conditions.

The state agriculture and markets department will continue to enforce existing state laws pertaining to animal care by pet dealers, the governor’s press release said. If a municipality chooses to adopt a more stringent local law, enforcement of the new law will be the sole responsibility of the municipality.

There are 25 licensed pet dealers in Suffolk County, three of which are located in the Town of Riverhead: Sportsman’s Kennels in Manorville; Blue Ribbon Puppies in Manorville; and, the only pet store in the town that sells dogs, Puppy Experience in Aquebogue.