Lafayette City Council supports banning retail sale of dogs, cats – …

Lafayette City Council expressed support Tuesday evening for banning the sale of all dogs and cats in the city, whether through retail pet stores or through hobby breeders.

In late 2022, City Council directed staff to draft an ordinance prohibiting the retail sale of cats and dogs in pet stores due to the unfortunate nature that most of those pets come from puppy or kitten mills.

City Attorney Mary Lynn Macsalka presented the proposed ordinance to City Council. Macsalka said that under Colorado law municipalities have the authority to regulate “offensive or unwholesome businesses,” prohibit cruelty to animals and prohibit the sale of dogs or cats. Macsalka said the mills often have inhumane breeding practices and little regard for the animal’s safety and health.

She presented two alternatives for the ordinance — one to ban the sale of cats and dogs just in pet stores and another to ban all sales of cats and dogs. Both alternatives has exceptions for sales or adoptions of cats and dogs through animal shelters, animal rescues or other animal care facilities.

She said that the ordinance would have an exception for fostering animals placed by an animal rescue in a private home, so long as the household is following the Lafayette code that there can be up to three dogs, three cats and one other household pet in the unit.

Macsalka said that a ban on retail sale of dogs and cats by pet stores would be easy to enforce, but enforcement of all sales would be more difficult to enforce and based on a complaint-basis.

“Only if the city received complaints would our law enforcement officers or animal control officers be able to go and see if there is a violation of code,” Macsalka said.

Hobby breeders, which are small-scale breeders and are not producing more than 24 dogs or cats per year or more than two puppy litters or three kitty litters per year, do not have to be licensed in Colorado. Macsalka said that the city would not know if hobby breeders would be violating the code unless the city received a complaint or notice.

Councilmember Tonya Briggs said that puppy or kitten mills that are in the city are in violation of the code.

“There are ways to rescue animals that are currently here on this planet and give them a great home. We do not need to continue breeding,” Briggs said.

Briggs said that animal rescues ensure that animals end up in safe homes through background checks of the person wishing to adopt. She said that there is no guarantee that a puppy or kitty ends up in a safe environment through retail sale or breeders.

Councilmember Nicole Samson clarified that the ordinance only applies to cats and dogs and not other household pets, such as turtles or birds.

Council directed Macsalka to move forward with the ordinance to ban all sales of cats and dogs. The ordinance will be presented for consideration of first reading at a future council meeting.