We’ve probably all driven by someone sitting by the back of a vehicle in a Springfield parking lot with puppies or kittens for sale nearby in cages or boxes. After tonight, that might no longer be allowed. Springfield City Council could vote on an ordinance that would prohibit the roadside sale of animals. KSMU’s Michele Skalicky has more.
The issue was put before council by the city’s Animal Issues Task Force. The ordinance is aimed at backyard breeders and would prohibit the selling of animals on a roadside, public right of way or a commercial parking lot or at an outdoor special sale, swap meet, flea market, parking lot sale or similar event in the City of Springfield. According to the task force’s president, Mary Collette, these types of sales often result in impulse buys.
"The decision to select a pet is a life long decision and should not be made as an impulse as you're walking out of a grocery store or out of a Walmart. That's not really a responsible way to choose a pet to spend the next 15 years of your life with if you're going to be a responsible pet owner," she said.
She says impulse buys can result in animals ending up at shelters where they might be euthanized. According to Collette, the measure would protect not only animals, but also consumers.
"You will not have known who the mother and father of the animal was, where it was raised. It's even possible that you would be picking up a pet that someone had gone to all the parking lots in town and gathered them up and then is either selling them just to make a quick buck, and they haven't been well cared for, and they could have fleas or heartworm or other viruses, and you have absolutely no recourse," she said.
The ordinance not only prohibits the sale of animals along roadsides, it also targets people giving them away. Collette says there are better ways for people to find homes for their unwanted pets such as an advertisement in the newspaper or online. She recommends finding out what the pet’s new home will be like before handing it over.
The ordinance does not apply to events primarily for the sale of agricultural livestock or at residential properties. It specifically exempts an agent of a pet store licensed by the Missouri Department of Agriculture and non-profits founded for the purpose of providing shelter for abandoned or unwanted animals.
City Council’s Plans and Policies Committee recommended approval of the ordinance at a meeting in September.
Council meets tonight at 6:30 at Historic City Hall.
