Need Ideas, or Want to Share Yours?

Hope everyone is busily typing up their letters to Mr. Jon Cooper. If anyone is looking for ideas on what to write, here is a copy of the one that I sent out earlier today:

Jon Cooper
Majority Leader
Suffolk County Legislature


Dear Mr. Cooper:


Thank you for responding to my blog post about your revoked resolution IR 1545-2011 by informing my readers of your planned “Pet Store Companion Animal Rating” system and inviting them to provide input into this process in the form of recommendations.

I personally believe this is a good step in the right direction for puppy and kitten sales reform, however, I feel a rating system based on the quality of the pet store may end up being misleading to the consumer. My concern is that if a customer sees that a pet store has high ratings, just because it is clean, or the pups ‘appear’ healthy, they may feel that it is “okay” to purchase from that facility, without ever researching the health, welfare, and personality of the puppies’ or kittens’ parents. I’ve already had a friend of mine once tell me they were buying a puppy from a ‘reputable’ pet store, which only bought its pups from ‘reputable’ breeders.

But really, how would they know the store was truthful?

This same blindness is what leads consumers to inadvertently and ignorantly support puppy mills. I suggest that any website or literature promoting your “Pet Store Companion Animal Rating” system will also serve to educate consumers. Most people do not know where they should report violations to, how they should do so, and in what instances they should. Many people also do not realize that they should ask about health screening certificates that clear the parents of hereditary issues, and that they also have a right to know where those puppies and kittens come from. If the store can’t or won’t provide health and heritage information to them, then they would be better served by a store that can.

I also recommend that your rating system should rely heavily on how the breeding animals are being treated, rather than the condition of the animals on display in the store. Of course, these facilities should also receive negative ratings if they are selling sick animals, or mistreating their animals, but it is what goes on behind closed doors that concerns me most. The customers can see for themselves if the animals look sickly or not cared for well, (and they will hopefully then report the facility after being further educated by your literature), but they cannot see for themselves what is going on at the breeding facility.

In my opinion, pet stores should automatically receive a substantially poor rating if there is anything questionable or unsavory about the breeding facilities. (Poor inspection reports, complaints to overseeing authorities, cruelty charges, etc.) And if the pet store proprietors cry that this rule isn’t fair, well shame on them for not looking more carefully into where they are getting their puppies and kittens from. But in closing this thought, I do question who will be inspecting and rating the breeding facilities and how this new system will be regulated.

I wish you the best of luck with this endeavor, and would like to thank you for standing up for those who cannot speak for themselves.

Sincerely,
Donna Owczarek
(Address removed for privacy, but be sure to include it in your letter, so he knows you are a resident)

If anyone wants to share their own letter as a guest post, email it to me, and I'd be happy to put it up for you.