HomeMy WebLinkAboutCathleen Powell 8.25.211
Danielle Marshall
From:cathleen powell <powecl1@yahoo.com>
Sent:Wednesday, August 25, 2021 4:04 PM
To:Council
Cc:Danielle Marshall; Angie Mathias
Subject:D-194: Retail Pet Sales Ordinance.
8/25/2021 4PM
To: Renton Planning Commission and Renton City Councilmembers
From: Cathleen Powell, Renton Resident, 201 Union Ave SE, Renton WA 98059
RE: D-194: Retail Pet Sales Ordinance
Im writing you to share my thoughts regarding Puppyland operating this type of
business in Renton. This business model entails obtaining very young puppies to sell that
are sourced from puppy mill breeders and puppy brokers in other parts of the country.
Though they claim that is not the case, the evidence says otherwise:
They claim "we need to source dogs from 100s of breeders in order to supply our stores"
AND "my hands are on every parent dog."
If one does that math how is that even possible considering they have imported
approximately 1800 pups so far this year to the Puyallup and Renton stores combined.
1800 pups, with each mom producing 4 pups per litter (Puppyland sells a lot of small
breed dogs and those moms tend to produce smaller litters) = 450 litters/moms + the
dads. Even if all the puppies from every litter are sourced exclusively to Puppyland (and
they probably aren't as the puppies are desired by other retail pet stores nationally as
well), then how can he say he is putting his hands on potentially 900 dogs?
It was also implied that the "protesters" (that would be me) are committing vandalism
and harassing other tenants in their shopping center. I'd like to tell you a little bit about
the "protesters" that I know.
Four of us Renton residents became involved with Bailing Out Benji/Puppy Mill Free WA
in late-winter 2021. We are women in our 50s and 60s. We are not Activists but
Advocates for companion pets.
Two women have volunteered with Purrfect Pals for over 10 years and have successfully
setup adoption programs at Petsmart and Petco local to Renton, managing a staff of
volunteers, caring for cats, and working with the prospective pet owners. These women
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have also volunteered and staffed South County Cats non-profit booths over the years at
Renton River Days and the Renton Farmers Market.
The other two women have volunteered with South County Cats for over 10 years. I'm
very active in TNR (Trap Neuter and Return) of community cats in Renton, which
reduces the population of unowned cats and unwanted litters of kittens. South County
Cats often gets calls for help from Renton Animal Control to assist in these situations. I
personally have trapped cats from East Renton Highlands to Skyway and Newcastle to
Fairwood. The efforts of this all-volunteer cat welfare group has saved the City of Renton
10s of $1,000s of dollars in animal care and control costs over the years.
South County Cats recently started partnering with Feral Cat Spay Neuter Project and is
offering a low-cost/no cost spay/neuter clinic in Renton weekly. One of the "protesters"
has volunteered at that clinic every week for 8 months and participated in many
community outreach events.
So, you can see we are all working together to better the lives of companion animals.
We join together to point out to the City that the puppies being sold at Puppyland are
from questionable sources, which involve substandard conditions for the dogs left
behind.
I presented my own personal experience with my dog when he was rescued from a
puppy mill at 1 year of age when I spoke to the Planning Commission on 8/18/2021
I hope you will give the opposition to the Puppyland business model serious
consideration, and hear that the majority of Renton residents who have spoken and
emailed their opinions convey that this business model is not appropriate for Renton, or
even one that should be utilized in this era of preventing animal cruelty.
Additional regulations on this business does not stop the supply of puppies from puppy
mills. Inspecting the store does not get to the root of the problem, which is dogs being
sold for profit, profit to the Puppy Miller/Breeder, profit for the Broker and profit for
Puppyland.
As Jill Servais so aptly said at one of the Planning Commission meetings, "you can't
pretend you don't know where these puppies come from" if Renton decides to go ahead
with proposed D-194: Retail Pet Sales Ordinance.
Respectfully,
Cathleen ^..^ Powell
Pacific Crest Keeshond Club (PCKC), Rescue Chair
and Celebrating 14 years as a South County Cats Volunteer!
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