CAPE CORAL, Fla. -- Collier County Board of County Commissioners are looking to ban the retail sale of dogs and cats.
Patricia Holley, during public petition, asking the board to consider adopting an ordinance requiring retailers to only offer dogs and cats from local shelters or rescue organizations during Tuesday mornings meeting.
Commissioners agreed to move forward and have this as an agenda item during one of the meetings scheduled in October. This will give residents a chance to voice their opinion during a formal hearing.
“I don’t object to people selling dogs, I do object to the abuse I’ve witnessed first hand,” said Commissioner Penny Taylor, District 4.
The commissioners asked the County Attorney to look at two approaches; banning sale of dogs and cats in pet stores or regulating retail sales of pets.
“We think a total retail ban is the best option,” said Jonathan forester, Director of Community Affairs, Humane Society Naples.
Forester says right now there are about 100 cats and 70 dogs in need of adoption, “but that number is changing every year, we adopt out about 3,000 animals a year, about 50-50 dogs and cats.”
Petland has a permit to open its doors in Naples, it was discussed at the meeting for county staff are looking into how that will play out, if an ordinance is passed.
“The commissioners and the community now understand the importance of this issue, that it’s a health and safety issue if we have a pet store in our community,” said Kelly Hyland, Animal Advocate.
“It’s a health and safety issue now, we have have a bacterial infection going around called campylobacter and it is putting the residents of collier county, the seniors, the children at risk, and we do not want to see that happen,”said Michelle Lazarow, President, Alliance for aAnimal Welfare.
This will be on the Collier County Board of County Commissioner agenda no later than Tuesday, October 29th.
