New York State (WBEN) - Governor Kathy Hochul signed the Puppy Mill Pipeline Bill on Thursday which bans the sale of rabbits, cats and dogs in pet stores to target large breeding operations critics describe as "puppy mills."
For puppy sellers like The Barking Boutique in the Sheridan Plaza in Tonawanda, this could put their operation out of business.
"It's terrible for New Yorkers, because it's actually a ban that's targeting to end puppy mills, but actually doing the exact opposite. It's going to push puppy mills and bad breeders to outlets like Craigslist and online, where they don't come with any health warranties and there's no regulation at all. So where we operate, with responsible breeders in a transparent space, that's going to be eliminated. You're only going to be able to rescue or adopt those types of puppies with no background, or health information," says David Boelkes, owner of The Barking Boutique.
What exactly is a puppy mill?
According to Boelkes, "It's a substandard breeding condition where the dogs don't receive veterinary care and they don't get played with. They live their lives in cage and it's appalling. So just like the activists, we want to end puppy mills and we want to do it responsibly. Eliminating breeders isn't going to work. That way, we have to increase standards for breeding practices. When things get banned or eliminated, it just gets worse and goes underground."
Boelkes says his business does their due diligence and makes sure their breeders are giving responsible care, "We work with breeders in the midwest. Me and my father, he's a transporter. I take my staff and myself and we'd go and visit the breeders, we look at the mom and dads, we look at the OFA reports, we look at the vet report, we look at their get their USDA licensing and we determine if they're a breeder that we want to work with. We want to make sure that we have the best puppies to bring to New York for the families. We do offer those health warranties as well and if we weren't breeding with good dogs, we'd have a lot of claims and luckily, we don't because we work with really good breeders."
While The Barking Boutique is not in support of this the new law, places like the SPCA support the bill as it prompts most looking to find a dog, to adopt and could potentially shift pet stores into partnering with adoption centers, "Petco and PetSmart, they stopped selling animals years ago and a lot of the stores down in New York City, instead of selling pets, they could partner up with, let's say, different rescue groups or the ASPCA and they could adopt out animals, so much better for everyone involved," says Bethany Kloc with Erie County SPCA on WBEN on Friday.
Boelkes says he's a supporter of adoption, but that may not always be the best option for a particular family or for the animal, "We say adopt first, shop second and adopt or shop responsibly. There's some rescues out there who don't really put the consumer first, they're just trying to home dogs, which is great. But unfortunately, if you match the wrong dog over and over and just trying to get into a home that's doing more damage to these dogs, than getting a right match to that from the start, which is what we can offer."
Boelkes also hopes that some amendments get made so that he doesn't have to shut down shop, "We're hoping that they add some amendments that would allow us to have regulation instead of a ban, so that the good players could continue to operate and if there are bad players out there, it will force them to cease operating. To put a strict band on any one industry, just like alcohol, it's going to lead to underground markets like Craigslist sellers and other online scams."
See the player below for the full interview with David Boelkes:
