VA Lawmakers Consider Bill To Stop Pet Stores From Selling Unsterilized Dogs Or Cats

RICHMOND, VA — A bill making its way through the Virginia General Assembly seeks to prohibit for-profit pet stores from selling cats or dogs that have not been spayed or neutered.

"Our goal is that we're just asking that for-profit pet shelter or pet stores be held to the same sterilization requirements for the animals that they are selling, as rescues and shelters are for those we are adopting out," said Sue Bell, executive director of the Homeward Trails Animal Rescue.

Republican Sen. Bill Stanley, who represents the 20th Senate District on Virginia's southern border, introduced Senate Bill 89 on behalf of Homeward Trails, which is the largest private animal rescue in the D.C. metro region.

Currently, potential pet owners are required by state law to sterilize any cat or dog they adopt from a shelter or rescue. For-profit pet stores are not subject to the sterilization requirement. If SB 89 is passed into law, no pet store would be able to sell a dog or cat unless it had been spayed or neutered.

Bell said the law would not impact the purchase of animals from reputable breeders.

"I know of no pet store that gets their puppies from a reputable breeder," she said. "Reputable breeders do not sell their puppies to pet stores. In fact, most reputable breeders, when they sell their puppies to consumers, in the contract, they actually mandate that their purchasers spay and neuter their dogs, because a good breeder wants to protect the quality of the lineage of their dogs and their puppies."

David Foley, president of the Virginia Pet Advocate Alliance, which lobbies on behalf of pet store owners, testified on SB 89 last week in front of the Senate Agricultural, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee. He told them that it should be up to the person who purchases an animal whether it should be sterilized or not.

"Our consumers are spending a couple of thousand dollars with a dog," he said. "These aren't the dogs that are showing up in the shelters. These dogs, basically, because they're microchipped, they go back to the owners. I think that they should have the right to choose whether they want to have a spay or neuter themselves."

SB 89 went before the Companion Animal Subcommittee last Thursday. Next week, it's scheduled to go before the full Agriculture Committee, which will make a decision on whether or not to send it to the Senate floor for approval.

Homeward Trails is asking its supporters to contact three committee members from Northern Virginia, Sens. Chap Petersen (D-34), Dave Marsden (D-37) and Barbara Favola (D-31) to voice their support for the bill. Petersen also is the committee's chairman.