HomeMy WebLinkAboutRick Hall 8.18.21Richard Hall
Washington Alliance for Humane Legislation
1863 Hillside Drive NE
Tacoma, Washington 98422
253-426-0238
August 18, 2021
City of Renton Planning Commission and City Council
1055 South Grady Way
Renton, Washington 98057
RE: Humane Pet Sales Ordinance
Honorable Members of the Planning Commission and City Council,
I am writing to strongly encourage the city of Renton planning commission and city council to support
the passage of a humane pet sales ordinance. Such an ordinance would prohibit the sale of
commercially bred dogs at retail pet stores.
Although there are many reasons to move forward with an ordinance, I will address three points:
Legal Risks. Staff has suggested that “…the City should adopt a provision similar to the state to allow
the existing business to continue. To do otherwise poses legal risks and obstacles.”
I do not believe there is any significant risk associated with adopting an ordinance that bans the sale of
dogs at retail pet stores. Both Kitsap County and the city of Olympia enacted ordinances that ended
existing businesses’ sales of puppy mill dogs. Kitsap County’s ordinance affected Farmland Pets, and
Olympia’s ordinance affected a Puppyland retail store. Both allowed a grace period for the businesses to
end puppy sales.
The Challenge of Imposing Washington State Dog Breeding Standards. Planning staff have suggested
enacting a new rule that would require retail pet stores selling puppies to provide documentation that
breeders supplying the stores meet or exceed the requirements in RCW 16.52.310--Washington State’s
dog breeding standards. Although a worthy concept, in practice this would be extremely difficult to do.
Out-of-state dog breeders cannot be regulated to Washington state standards without independent
inspections, which would typically be performed by federal, state, or local agencies. None of these
agencies are prepared to monitor for compliance with Washington standards. And self-reporting and
certification by breeders is untenable.
Animal Cruelty and Customer Exploitation. Renton, like a growing number of communities in
Washington, should rid itself of business practices that thrive on cruelty to animals, exploit customers,
and blatantly violate the law.
Puppyland and other pet stores not long ago gained notoriety by facilitating “pet leases” as part of their
predatory financing schemes to profit from puppies born in cruel mills. As a result of public furor, our
state legislature effectively ended pet leasing schemes within months, by passing HB 1476 (2019).
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Among the many shady business practices used by retail pet stores selling mill dogs, there is one that is
not only unethical, but is illegal.
Puppyland has, and most likely continues to violate the Federal Consumer Review Fairness Act by
threatening customers’ free speech rights. We have several examples of executed sales contracts from
Puppyland that explicitly void promised health warranties, force return of warranty payouts, or threaten
legal recourse if a customer posts negative comments online or to the press about Puppyland.
This contract provision, probably incorporated into hundreds or thousands of Puppyland contracts
within and outside of Washington State, has been reported to both the Washington State Attorney
General’s Office and the Federal Trade Commission. We are hopeful that sanctions are forthcoming.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment. If you have questions, please contact me.
Respectfully,
Richard Hall
Washington Alliance for Humane Legislation