Rescues Only, Please

Buying a furry friend in California? Beginning next year, you can be confident your new pet didn’t come from a puppy mill—a facility where dogs and other animals are bred in mass numbers, often in inhumane conditions. The state recently became the first in the country to require pet shops to sell only rescue animals. Any store that sells a dog, cat, or rabbit that doesn’t come from a shelter or adoption center could be fined $500. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) estimates there could be as many as 10,000 puppy mills in the U.S. breeding more than 2 million animals every year, creating an oversupply of pets, many of which wind up in shelters. The California law, coming on the heels of similar ones in cities such as Boston and Chicago, is expected to have a big impact. “This will reduce the shelter pet population and reduce the number of animals that are raised under brutal, deplorable conditions,” says Susan Riggs of the ASPCA. “It breaks the supply chain of abused animals in California.”