Historic Huntington Pet Store Could Close If NYS Bill Passes

HUNTINGTON STATION, NY — A longtime Huntington Station pet store's era could be coming to a close. Selmer's Pet Land, a family-owned business which claims it's the oldest pet store in America, would likely be forced to shutter its 125 E. Jericho Turnpike shop should a proposed New York State bill banning the sale of dogs, cats and rabbits at retail pet stores be passed.

Selmer's Pet Land was founded in 1939. Jessica Selmer, the owner, inherited the store from her father after it was handed down to him by his father before him.

"My grandfather started the store when Jericho Turnpike was a dirt road," Selmer told Patch.

Should the legislation pass, the sale of pets at retail stores could be banned as soon as 2021, NBC 4 reported.

The bill is spearheaded by Senate Deputy Leader Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) and has 18 Senate co-sponsors, The Legislative Gazette reported. It aims to encourage pet adoption and rescue, and decrease the demand for mill breeders.

"The question is whether we should be treating our animals like commodities," Gianaris said according to The Legislative Gazette. "That is not how we should be treating living beings."

Libby Post, executive director of the New York State Animal Protection Federation, told NBC 4 that puppy mills, as well as the less common designer cat and bunny mills, led to support of the bill. She said the proposal is an "opportunity for pet stores to re-brand themselves as compassionate businesses that put puppies over profits."

If passed, the bill would impact roughly 80 pet retail stores largely in New York City and on Long Island, NBC 4 reported. This includes Selmer's Pet Land, now in its 81st year.

Selmer said while she is pro-rescue, she would not want her customers' choice to be eliminated when it comes to shopping for or adopting a puppy or rabbit; Selmer's Pet Land does not sell cats.

"Just by common-sense definition, it’s eliminating the freedom of choice," Selmer said. "It’s forcing people to rescue and not purchase an animal. It’s really a pet store ban. It’s not a puppy mill ban."

New Yorkers could still buy cats, dogs and rabbits directly from breeders, but pet stores that violate the law could face penalties, NBC 4 reported. The bill, which would allow stores to work with animal shelters or rescue groups to offer animals for adoption, would become effective a year after being signed into law. However, Selmer said that it'd be "not realistic" to allow a section of the store to feature rescue dogs from a third-party organization. The reasons she outlined are: liability insurance, stores not being compensated for their overhead and "no rescues will work with stores."

Selmer said there is a demand for newborn puppies, adding that some customers' children with special-needs wouldn't mesh with a special-needs pet, and some of her elderly customers could not properly handle a rescue.

"It would be greatly irresponsible to force people to not have the choice of getting a new puppy or not," she said. "My concern is for my customers."

Selmer also pushed back on the notion of pet stores being complicit in puppy mills. She described puppy mills as the mistreatment of animals who have no veterinary care or oversight and countered that Suffolk County pet stores have the most strict regulations of those from any county in the state. She said pet stores must be licensed and breeders they use must have clean reports from the United States Department of Agriculture. Selmer said a veterinarian oversees the store, and it has to pass inspections by Suffolk County Consumer Affairs and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

"Stores are the definition of consumer protection," she said. "They are required by law to guarantee the health of the puppies they sell."

Legislators admitted the law would hurt pet store revenue but also said pet sales are a small portion of income for retailers, as the majority of their profits come from goods and services, like food, supplies or grooming, the Legislative Gazette reported.

Selmer disagrees.

"[Legislators] are saying it won’t put us out of business, but now with Chewy, Amazon and the Internet, and just the way everyone has been moving away from mom and pop stores, we would be put out of business if we were not to handle livestock," she said. "It’s completely untruthful for anyone to say that we would still be in business, because we would not be."

Should the bill go through, Selmer predicts that Selmer's Pet Land would be forced to shut down within a year.

"I didn’t really anticipate this [bill] going as far as it does, considering it does nothing. It’s only hurting the good actors. Being a good actor, I did not have a plan. I did not think that a bill that was so premature and unthought out would ever get this far."

She said Selmer's Pet Land has long been a fixture of the Huntington community by supporting rescue organizations with food donations and providing raffle baskets and donations to the local police and fire departments, as well as Girl Scout troops.

"New York doesn’t need anymore empty storefronts," Selmer said. "There would be unemployment issues, a lack of tax revenue from the store and just another empty store in Huntington."

New York would join Maryland and California, as well as hundreds of municipalities nationwide, should the ban go into law, Syracuse.com reported.