Kelley Hill sat silently behind the two presentations made to council at its Monday night meeting, regarding the retail sales of puppies, kittens and rabbits. She held up a poster of her dead dog, including pictures of it as a puppy, and more graphic photos of its health problems and stitches after various surgeries before the dog died last summer.
Hill, a supporter of Paws for Hope Animal Foundation, said her pure bred dog was purchased from Pet Habitat. Despite living to the age of nine, her dog Shelby had insurmountable health issues such as hip dysplasia, a brain tumor and bladder infections. She purchased the dog for $1,388, but her health-care costs ended up reaching $32,381.
She was there to make council aware of the consequences of purchasing from a pet store, she told the NOW.
At the meeting, animal advocates were in one corner and Burnaby pet storeowners were in the other - both taking direct shots at each other during their separate presentations to council.
The second part of a proposed animal control bylaw regarding the sales of puppies, kittens and rabbits in the city has been a hot topic of discussion as council prepares to make a decision on the retail sales of pets.
The city has been working on updating its animal control bylaw for the last two years, and in a recent staff report, it proposed to ban the retail sale of turtles but continue to allow the sale of kittens, puppies and sterilized rabbits.
Monday night's first presentation to council on this issue made by Tom Peters, the owner of Pet Habitat's Metrotown location, said he sells about 300 to 400 kittens a year, and about 25 puppies in a month, which makes up 60 per cent of his store's income.
He said his store would no longer be able to operate if the city decided to ban the retail sales of pets.
"Anything proposed in terms of regulations, if it's the betterment for an animal I would like to comply," he said.
Peters said special interest groups want to alter the animal control bylaw to ban the retail sales of pets, but his store does have high standards when it comes to acquiring its animals from the Hunte Corporation.
"Our suppliers have assured us they do not purchase from breeders who have been in direct violation in the last three years," he said. "Direct violation, by definition, has a direct impact on the health of the animals. Also, to be noted, most breeders are being inspected on a state level and, in many instances, on a county level, as well."
Peters noted that he gets his puppies from the Hunte Corporation in the U.S. because of the strict standard of inspection levels. He also said he could not get them locally because breeders are not allowed to sell directly to pet stores.
He said if the issue is about puppy mills, which is a negative term used for places that breed puppies en masse with little regard for animal well-being, then puppy mills should be addressed directly.
"I want the province to get involved with it because you want to look at the true source," he told the NOW. "I'm just a retailer. The source is where the problem is; if there's a problem, teach them, make them better. Don't just discourage them completely."
In regards to the proposed amendments to the animal control bylaw, Peters said it should include all organizations in the business of finding homes for animals. He said it is too difficult to provide detailed information on smaller animals and kittens because they are rescued from a Quebec supplier, and suggested the bylaw should allow for instances when specific details on a sold animal cannot be provided.
Peters, alluding to the next delegation made by a small animal advocate organization, said small animals make up a small percentage of store sales.
Lisa Hutcheon, from the Small Animal Rescue Society of B.C., was the second presentation made to council on Monday night.
She took direct aim at Metrotown's Pet Habitat store when it comes to small animals being sold.
"Animals are often referred to as stock and are not regarded as the actual living beings that they are," she said, saying small pets sell for $5 to $10. "They're using small animals to lure people in to make sales. ... Small animals are used, really, by pet stores to sell more expensive items."
A four-hour seminar and distance-education course is the only training for pet store workers, and Hutcheon said it's not enough.
"We actually promote everybody to purchase from stores that don't sell animals," she said. "Pets are not products. Don't shop at a place that sells small animals."
If the city continues to allow small animal sales, than the infrastructure should be in place when those small animals are abandoned, Hutcheon stressed to council.
"Many cities won't take in small animals, or they have a cap on it," she said, noting Burnaby's B.C. SPCA shelters will only take in two small animals at a time. "If the city wants to continue to allow the sale of small animals, the city must have a place for them to go when they're no longer wanted. You can't rely on a group of volunteers to continually clean up the small animals. If it can't be done, then the sale of small animals should be stopped."
Hutcheon said her society is run on volunteers, has no funding and currently has about 336 small animals ranging from rabbits, chinchillas to guinea pigs.
Many of their small animals are in foster care at various places until they find a permanent home.
In response to the cheaply sold rabbits, Peters said his store sells rabbits for $100 to $150, and educates customers as much as possible when making a small animal purchase.
According to Maryann Manuel, the city's acting deputy city clerk, the B.C. SPCA was also going to present to council at the Nov. 18 meeting, but pulled out at the last minute.
In a previous interview with the NOW, Marcie Moriarty, chief prevention and enforcement officer with the B.C. SPCA, said the organization does not think a ban of puppies, kittens and rabbits would fix the problem of overpopulation.
"However, the sale of these animals, especially unspayed and un-neutered is a concern, and it's one avenue where we have an opportunity to take a proactive measure in a community," she said at the time. "Of course there are people who continue to sell on the Internet."
Council tabled the staff report at its Oct. 21 meeting to allow the public to comment over a two-week period. It is expected to vote on the report at the next council meeting on Nov. 25.
At the next Monday meeting, a delegation from King Ed Pet Centre is expected to present to council on the issue, as well.
