Riverhead's pet dealers law remains suspended as lawsuits challenging it continue - RiverheadLOCAL - RiverheadLOCAL
Riverhead Town remains barred from enforcing the pet dealer law adopted by the town board last fall under temporary restraining orders signed by a judge in November.
The law, which would ban the sale of commercially bred dogs, cats and rabbits by retail pet dealers in Riverhead, would have taken effect Jan. 1.
Operators of The Puppy Experience in Aquebogue and Sportsman’s Kennels in Manorville filed separate lawsuits challenging the law, adopted unanimously by the town board on Oct. 5. A pet dealers trade organization, People United to Protect Pet Integrity, or P.U.P.P.I, joined the suit brought by the owners of The Puppy Experience.
The lawsuits claim Riverhead’s local law bans the sale of dogs “raised and maintained in a healthy and safe manner,” in violation of State Agriculture and Markets Law. See prior stories here and here.
The state law allows municipalities to regulate pet dealers, provided the local regulation does not “result in essentially banning all sales of dogs or cats raised and maintained in a healthy and safe manner.”
Riverhead’s new law requires dogs, cats and rabbits sold by pet dealers in the town to come from animal shelters, animal control agencies, humane societies or nonprofit rescue groups registered with the state — thus banning the sale of commercially bred animals without respect to whether they are “raised and maintained in a health and safe manner,” according to the lawsuits.
The owners of Sportsman’s Kennels and The Puppy Experience both argued, in testimony during a Sept. 8 town board public hearing and in their subsequent lawsuits, that Riverhead’s new law will put them out of business. Both argue that they source pets only from dealers who breed and raise them in a healthy and safe manner. Both deny dealing with unreputable “puppy mill” breeders. The owner of Sportsman’s Kennels, which breeds on site, denies violating state or federal rules and regulations.
The town in its court filings claims the opposite.
With its answers to the complaints, the town submitted documents, including a Kansas inspection report, indicating at least one out-of-state breeder that sells puppies to the Aquebogue pet store houses hundreds of animals and in 2021 was found noncompliant with health and safety rules in that state.
The town also submitted a December 2021 report of an inspection of Sportsman’s Kennels by the State Department of Agriculture and Markets indicating violations of certain rules pertaining to animal housing facilities, feeding and watering facilities, and veterinary care. Sportsman’s Kennels had 168 adult dogs, 101 puppies on the sales floor and 30 neonates.
The town also submitted reports about both dealers made by the Companion Animal Protection Society. The organization visited each pet dealer and noted the names and locations of breeders and brokers who supply each of the dealers. The Companion Animal Protection Society reports indicate that the puppies are sourced from numerous out-of-state breeders that, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture inspection reports, that each house hundreds of dogs.
The parties to the lawsuits are awaiting the court’s decision on the pet dealer’s applications for a temporary injunction while the lawsuit is pending. The current restraining order remains in place until the court makes a decision on the temporary injunctions.
If temporary injunctions are issued, the pet dealers law won’t take effect until the litigation is finally determined, which could take years.
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source: https://riverheadlocal.com/2022/03/03/riverheads-pet-dealers-law-remains-suspended-as-lawsuits-challenging-it-continue/
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