HomeMy WebLinkAboutAshly Dale 1.27.211
Danielle Marshall
From:Ashly Dale <adale@bailingoutbenji.com>
Sent:Wednesday, January 27, 2021 8:00 AM
To:Council
Attachments:Model Ordinance.pdf
Hello Mayor Pavone & Council members
My name is Ashly Dale. I am a Washington resident and the Director of Operations with Bailing Out Benji, a
nonprofit that researches puppy mills and their connection to pet stores. I am reaching out to you today on
behalf of several of your residents who hope to see the City of Renton become the next humane city in the
state of Washington.
Currently, Renton has no puppy-selling pet stores within city limits. Passing a humane ordinance now would
not only show your city that you are against puppy mills, but you would be protecting your citizens from
potentially buying sick puppies from a store that offers predatory loans with interest rates as high as 200%.
Olympia recently passed such an ordinance, as did Lacey, Kitsap County and Gig Harbor.
Puppy selling stores are a serious health and safety risk for a multitude of reasons. Currently, Washington
puppy-selling stores obtain the majority of their puppies from a large USDA broker in Iowa. This broker
admittedly sources from over 600 commercial breeders, many with serious animal welfare violations and
hundreds of dogs on site. This is a huge transparency problem for the consumer, who is not given the details
of where their dog was born until after purchase. Not only are these stores sourcing from inhumane puppy
mills, they are targeting families who may not be able to afford a dog by offering predatory pet lending. These
pet loans have upwards of 200% interest and often end up doubling the initial cost of the puppy. Puppies for
sale in Washington stores cost anywhere from $1,200-$8,000, if you are able to pay in full at the time of
purchase. These predatory loans wrongly target families who cannot afford the purchase price and it sets them
up to be unable to afford any veterinary costs that pop up.
Puppy selling stores pose a health risk to the community as well. In violation of Washington’s stay at home
orders that took place in March-May 2020, one problematic Washington pet store chain called Puppyland
imported and sold hundreds of puppies with no concern over the health of their customers or employees. Pet
store puppies have been linked to multi-drug resistant campylobacter outbreaks and the spread of parvo,
which can live on surfaces for weeks. Even simply walking into a puppy store can expose you to parvo, which
you will then potentially take back home to your own pets or to other stores as you walk around to shop.
We would love to help the City of Renton go humane and join more than 370 other localities across the country
who have passed such an ordinance. Bailing Out Benji has sample ordinance language that I have included in
order to give the council some insight on what other cities have done. At your request, I can also provide
information on the current state of Washington puppy mills and the thousands of puppies that are being
imported into our state from Midwest puppy mills.
Thank you so much for your time and attention. I look forward to hearing from you about this issue.
Ashly Dale
Director of Operations | Washington Team Leader
www.bailingoutbenji.com
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