Pitch to ban pet sales in Aurora draws praise, criticism

Karen Martiny, founder of Animal Rescue of the Rockies, and Jens Larsen, owner of Denver Perfect Pets, operate on two sides of the same coin.

Martiny rescues animals and places them into foster care until they find a home, while Larsen works with USDA certified and licensed breeders to sell high-end dogs.

Both Martiny and Larsen face different challenges in their operations.

While Martiny struggles with the over-filling of animal shelters and rescues, with euthanasia often the unfortunate end for animals not adopted, Larsen battles the "puppy mill" stereotypes often pinned on pet stores like his.

"Animal rights activists want to shut down all the pet stores because they think we buy them all from puppy mills, and that's a very derogatory term that means dirty, unacceptable, bad conditions. Puppies are not treated right," Larsen told The Denver Gazette. "Everybody I buy from is licensed by the state and the USDA ... and I just always wonder why we have these regulations but they're still not good enough for these animal rights activist people."

Larsen noted his store only works with two certified, licensed and carefully chosen breeders.

Martiny, meanwhile, gets emails from shelters all the time with long lists of dogs and cats that need to get out of shelters to make space because they're so full, she said. Oftentimes, the animals are euthanized because there is logistically no way for the shelters and rescue centers to care for all of them.

On Monday night, Aurora city councilmembers waded into that debate by advancing a proposed ordinance to ban the sale of cats and dogs at pet stores, a move that would favor adoption of pets from rescues and shelters over commercial breeding.

It's not actually a problem in Aurora, where no existing pet store sells dogs or cats.

On July 31, several advocates urged the city council to adopt the ordinance, citing concerns over what they described as "inhumane" treatment, sourcing of animals and risks to consumers when purchasing unhealthy pets.

Councilmembers unanimously moved the item forward during a study session Monday to the city's official agenda.

The ordinance, if ultimately adopted, would actually affect no current businesses in Aurora — as city staffers said no pet stores in Aurora have sold dogs or cats since March 2020. That's when a pet store in the city was shuttered for unpaid taxes and cited for mistreatment of animals.

The ordinance, initiated by Aurora licensing manager Trevor Vaughn and sponsored by Councilmembers Danielle Jurinsky and Juan Marcano, would prohibit the sale of cats and dogs in the city's pet stores.

Denver, meanwhile, has no such restrictions.

The Aurora city council's agenda package claims that most animals in retail outlets come through commercial breeding operations, sometimes referred to as “puppy mills,” which, the city's fact sheet says, have been accused of sacrificing the health, safety and socialization of pets for increased profit margins.

"It's going to work hand-in-hand with animal rescues in addition to our own pet shelter," Marcano said. "It will ensure that we don't have puppy mills or kitten mills setting up shop in the city of Aurora in the future."

The ordinance would exclude private breeders and partnerships between pet stores and animal shelters and rescues, and thereby still allow adoption through pet stores.

Martiny said the ordinance would be incredibly helpful for animal shelters and rescues, giving them less competition with commercial breeders and keeping "puppy mills" from breeding mistreated and unhealthy animals.

Martiny said the ordinance is important for both the health and safety of the pets and the wellbeing of their owners.

"Puppy mills" often breed animals with genetic and behavioral issues, Martiny said.

"They've been so overbred and their parents have been treated so poorly that they develop problems later on and the people that buy them end up having to spend a lot of money or they get heartbroken because they lose the pet to illness," Martiny said.

Larsen said ordinances, such as the one Aurora is considering, assume that all commercial breeders are dirty and they mistreat animals when, in fact, most maintain clean, well-kept facilities that breed healthy, well-cared for pets.

Denver Perfect Pets, for example, works exclusively with USDA certified and licensed breeders, he said, adding all of the pets sold at his store come with an "unsurpassed" health guarantee. He also gives every buyer his personal cell number so they can call if they have issues.

He also vaccinates all of the dogs with the best, most up-to-date medication and uses "a fine-tooth comb" to go through breeders and choose who he works with, he said.

Larsen, who has spent 30 years in his business and another four years rescuing dogs, said he has way fewer health and behavioral problems with the dogs he buys from certified and licensed breeders than he ever had working with rescue dogs.

The Humane Society of the United States claims that, because of overbreeding and the lack of preventive health care, puppies from "mass breeding" operations frequently suffer from health issues. A study in the Journal of Veterinary Behavior says animals sold through pet stores exhibit behavioral and emotional problems that "cause distress in adulthood compared with dogs from other sources, especially noncommercial breeders."

If Aurora adopts the ordinance, it would join other cities across the country, including several in Colorado, notably Breckenridge, Superior, and Vail, that have adopted similar ordinances.

Regional animal shelters — including those in Aurora — are struggling with lack of space. The proposed ordinance would limit competition between for-profit breeding operations and animal adoptions, advocates said.

"That's why this ordinance is so important because the fewer pets that come from puppy mills and breeders, the more are going to get adopted from shelters and rescues," Martiny said.

Animal rescue organizations are excited to see such ordinances being considered across the country, especially at a time when rescue organizations are seeing a drop in adoptions and shelter intakes surpassing their capacity, Martiny said.

Such ordinances won't fix the overfilled rescue and shelter issues, which are not caused by competition with breeders but rather with the breeding of undesirable dogs, Larsen said.

"I just sold a mini golden doodle ... great personality dogs and pretty much hypoallergenic and non-shedding," Larsen said. "If you drive to Dumb Friends League today, everything is black or pit bull or chihuahua-looking. I fulfill a totally different niche. You can't make choices for people."

Advocates backing the proposed ordinance cite the March 2020 closure of Spiffy Pets, which conducted business as Pet City, in Town Center at Aurora Mall. The store was closed over an unpaid tax bill of about $86,000 and the city seized 44 puppies, 24 mice, nine hamsters and six rabbits, according to Denver Gazette news partner 9News.

Many of the puppies needed medical attention for respiratory problems and were treated by the city’s animal shelter, according to the Dumb Friends League and other partner agencies.

Spiffy Pets had previously been cited for improper care of animals, following a puppy's death in February 2020 from Parvovirus, according to the city council's fact sheet. During the seizure, the store was “observed in a filthy state” and many of the puppies were quarantined for health issues, the fact sheet says.

The Aurora City Council will vote on the ordinance in a regular session open to the public on Monday, Aug. 14.

Aurora residents who plan to run for Aurora City Council can start collecting nomination petition signatures Wednesday.