On January 6, 2020, the Harbor Springs City Council unanimously approved
Ordinance No. 425 — Humane Pet Acquisition, taking a proactive step to prevent commercially bred animals from being sold through retail and online channels within the city.The ordinance was brought forward after
Stop Online Puppy Mills President Janie Jenkins approached Mayor Matt Bugera in 2019 about adopting a Humane Pet Acquisition Ordinance. The proposal was based on a model developed for Michigan municipalities seeking to prevent commercially bred dogs and other animals from entering communities through retail sellers.Harbor Springs did not have a pet store selling puppies, kittens or other live animals. That was exactly why Jenkins believed the timing was right.
“Since Harbor Springs currently had no stores that sell dogs, cats or live animals, and never has, and the community is very supportive of the Little Traverse Bay Humane Society, I thought this would be an ideal time to consider the ordinance.”
Rather than waiting for a puppy-selling business to move into the community, Harbor Springs chose to act first.
Why Stop Online Puppy Mills Wanted the Ordinance to Go Further
Stop Online Puppy Mills had already been documenting how puppy sales were moving online. Sellers no longer needed puppies sitting in a storefront window. They could advertise puppies on websites, collect money online and meet buyers somewhere other than the breeding property.That raised a larger concern: a buyer could see the puppy without ever seeing the mother dog, the breeding facility, the other dogs or the conditions in which the puppy was raised.That is why SOPM supported language that addressed more than traditional pet stores.At the time of passage, Puppy Mill Awareness Southeast Michigan described Harbor Springs as the
first Michigan city to prohibit all live-animal sales and the fourth Michigan city to address online pet retailers.Why the Online Language Matters
A traditional puppy store is easy to identify. Online sellers can be harder to understand.A website may present a puppy as coming from a small family breeder while the person taking the buyer’s money may actually be operating as a broker or retailer.The buyer sees the puppy.But the buyer may never see where that puppy came from.That is why Stop Online Puppy Mills continues to tell consumers:
If you cannot meet the mother dog and see where the dogs live, don’t buy the puppy.Harbor Springs Acted Before There was a Problem
What makes this ordinance important is that Harbor Springs did not wait until commercially bred puppies were already being sold in the city.The city acted first.Stop Online Puppy Mills hopes other Michigan communities and towns across the country, will consider doing the same.A municipality does not have to wait for a puppy store or online puppy seller to establish a business before deciding what kind of animal-selling activity it wants to allow.
Harbor Springs has closed that door before it opened.Look Beyond the Puppy.
Stop Online Puppy Mills is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to educating consumers about puppy mills and the sale of commercially bred puppies online. Help us expose the hidden
puppy mill pipeline and give puppy buyers the information they need before they purchase.
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