A Room Divided: Puppy Sales Pro and Con

Emotions ran high Tuesday night at the meeting of the Branford Representative Town Meeting’s Rules & Ordinance Committee (R&O)on a proposal to ban most retail sales of puppies, kittens, and rabbits.

All Pets Club on East Main Street is the sole retailer of animals in Branford. Scores of the club’s employees and families, many wearing All Pets Club green T-shirts, filled the main room at the Canoe Brook Senior Center. They lined the hallways waiting to get in. When the room overflowed, they were sent to another room to hear the events unfold.   

In the end, the committee voted to create an ad hoc committee to consider the proposal. Public hearings are expected to follow. The full RTM must vote on the issue and if adopted, Branford would become the first town in the state to adopt such a ban. Other towns and cities across the nation, including the city of Los Angeles have done so. Acting Chair Maggie Bruno (pictured) told the group that typically it takes up to a year or more to work on an ordinance. That time period would coincide with a state task force created at the end of the last state legislative session that will study some of the same issues raised at last night’s meeting.

In between, due to overcrowding in violation of fire laws, the committee threatened to reschedule the meeting or adjourn it to the firehouse. In addition, there was discussion about simply tabling the proposal and wait for the findings of the task force. Typically RTM committees meet at Canoe Brook’s main room instead of the larger room at the firehouse. R & O members said they were unprepared for the large turnout.

The animal control’s proposed ordinance says its purpose is to regulate ​“the keeping and sale of certain animals in pet shops and to protect and advance animal welfare, consumer protection and public health and safety.” Click here to read our most recent story.

Essentially the ordinance bans the retail sale of live dogs, cats or rabbits in a pet shop in Branford unless the animals are obtained from a town- or city-operated animal control facility or a not-for-profit animal-rescue organization.

Lori Fogler-Nicholson (pictured), chair of the Dan Cosgrove Animal Shelter Commission and originator of the proposal, emphasized that she does not want to put All Pets Club out of business but rather urges it to retool its business model to take in shelter animals, which she said would ultimately lead to increased business. In a PowerPoint presentation, she discussed the poor conditions of the mills in which dogs are bred, and from which puppies are sold to pet stores. She was joined in the presentation by Annie Hornish, state director for the Humane Society of the United States.

More than 140 people jammed into the room, whose capacity was 96 persons. All Pets Club supporters lined one side of the room, many of the wearing red stickers that read: ​“Support Pets, Save Our Pet Store.” Fire officials were summoned and conferred with Bruno and others. Then Bruno announced that unless people left in sufficient numbers the meeting would end and a new one would be rescheduled.

It took about 20 minutes but finally enough people left to allow others to present their arguments.

Lobbyist Linda Kowalski of Branford; Charles Sewell, (pictured) executive vice president of external affairs of the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Committee; (PIJAC) and Ed Foucault, co-owner of All Pets Club, called for a zero-tolerance attitude toward substandard animal mills. They said that the proposal would lead to job losses and loss of revenue from state sales taxes and local property taxes. Sewell said simply that All Pets Club would likely go out of business and urged the R & O committee to delay its inquiry until the state task force acts next year.

Both Hornish and Kowalski are members of the task force.

PIJAC, a lobbying group that worked hard to defeat a state wide ban on puppy mills during the legislative session, urged the RTM committee not to single out one store. Sewell warned that ​“putting 40-plus people out of work, that just doesn’t make sense.”

Heather Bradley of the Connecticut Coalition Against Puppy Mills cited numerous U.S. Department of Agriculture violations found within puppy mills used by All Pets Club. Foucault, a co-owner of the store, interrupted Bradley as she spoke to say that he had recently stopped purchasing puppies from one of the best-known puppy mills in the nation, Dot’s Little Doggies, in Kansas. In the past store officials have maintained they did not use puppy mills. 

Also speaking at the meeting were people who had both good and bad experiences in dealing with All Pets Club. A Leetes Island Road resident spoke of the support from APC personnel she received in caring for her pets, though she referred to a store other than All Pets Club.

Tim Sheehan (pictured), a Bridgeport resident told of numerous health problems experienced by his bloodhound a day or so after he purchased the puppy in December 2012. His puppy’s vet bills have totaled over $5,000, which All Pets has not paid, he said. The store offered him $500 in store credit. He said he has filed complaints with the attorney general’s office and the Better Business Bureau. He said he later learned that his pet came from ​“a large-scale puppy mill operation” in Coffeyville,Kansas.

In contrast, Edward Boughton, a North Branford resident, described acquiring his APC puppy as a life-changing experience.

In the end, it will be some time before a final decision is made. Chair Maggie Bruno said the proposal will remain an ​“active” item.

Marcia Chambers contributed to this story.

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