Press Release
For Immediate Release
November 26, 2007

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SUBMISSION OF URBAN ANIMAL MAGAZINE - PAGE 5

THE SOLUTION--COMPROMISE THAT CAN SATISFY MOST PARTIES' CONCERNS

Banning the sale of mammals in pet shops is not the winning solution to the problems of bad retailers, bad breeders or bad practices. The problem is much wider and requires a delicate balance of regulation, industry participation and co-operation as well as eliminating the more obvious and objectionable sales and marketing of livestock. It's just the same as banning the sale of food, wine/alcohol and water in all restaurants is not the solution to hygiene problems, overpriced beverages, exorbitant bottled water and mislabelled food products used in the menu of the minority of restaurants that operate improperly.

The pet industry and the restaurant industry have many things in common aside from the fact that they are the only business sectors allowed to sell live animals to consumers as opposed to the agricultural livestock industry which sells to farmers and breeders. And yes, restaurants do display and sell live animals to consumers as evidenced by the proliferation of fish tanks in many restaurants where the diner chooses their meal.

The main problem of public safety and rip offs over food labelling or substitution exists at market stalls, portable food outlets and other, generally non-regulated food vendors. It is identical to the problem of the sale of pets at markets, from cars or stalls, from neighbourhood breeders or accidental breeding by individuals and non-regulated pet sources. This is really where most of the abuse and illicit commerce takes place as well as resulting in animals being abandoned after the novelty factor wears off. Animals become a disposable commodity when sold cheap, much like the difference between fast food and finer dining.

Having seen various statistics from here and overseas on the sale of animals by outlet versus the credible accounting of abandoned or euthanised animals relating back to the outlets, I find that the amount of investment made in the animal, purchasing from a legitimate and often higher priced source is directly relative to the lack of abandonment. But what's more, there are reasonable arguments that pets procured at pet stores are a minority of those turned in to pounds and shelters with the majority being from non-regulated sources.

So in order to balance the needs of animals, of consumers and also of commerce, there must be a compromise solution that is workable, implemented fairly and quickly. There needs to be a more moderate approach that involves state regulation applying to particular pet animal sellers that are only allowed to sell animals if they pass and maintain strict standards of care, display, marketing and truth-in-labelling so to speak, of their animals, origins, breed, health and other factors. Those retailers which can not do this should not be allowed to sell them. What we advocate is a set of standards and a regular inspection system that assures the operator has the high standards that must be met to permit sales of pets.

A clear parallel is the program for the licensing of restaurants in the state of Georgia in the US where I came from that could easily be applied here in a form for the pet industry. Over there, a restaurant has to display a numerically scored 'grade' on a state issued paper (A4) in eye level at the door or clearly in the window at entry point as well as at the cash register which gives its level of cleanliness, hygiene and other operational factors as a rating from 1-100. On this certificate are also the results of the most recent inspection, its date and any problems that ordered to be fixed.

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