By Mark Rosman
Staff Writer
MANALAPAN – Two individuals involved in animal protection efforts in the Garden State thanked the members of the Manalapan Township Committee for adopting an ordinance that will permit pet shops in Manalapan to only sell dogs and cats that arrive at the store from an animal care facility or an animal rescue organization.
The ordinance was adopted by a 5-0 vote during the committee’s April 5 meeting. Officials said it is a proactive move because there are no pet stores in Manalapan at this time.
During the public hearing that preceded the committee’s vote to adopt the ordinance, Janine Motta of Manalapan, representing the Animal Protection League of New Jersey, said, “I am grateful for this ordinance. It is refreshing to see this proactive step. I am proud to say I live in a town which will not permit pet stores to sell dogs and cats that come from puppy mills and kitten mills.”
Brian Hackett of Wrightstown, the New Jersey state director of the Humane Society of the United States, thanked the committee members for adopting the ordinance.
“In New Jersey, we are leading the way with this effort,” Hackett said. “There are now 100 towns that have adopted this ordinance. We are trying to prevent the type of situations (involving pet stores and puppy mills) that we have recently seen in several towns.
“Nationwide, there are 10,000 puppy mills. There is a difference between a puppy mill and a responsible breeder. A breeder does not sell animals to a pet store and a breeder encourages people to come to their location to meet the dogs,” he said.
Hackett said several national pet stores no longer sell animals acquired from puppy mills. He said those stores partner with animal rescue organizations to help place animals through adoption.
Asked how the ordinance came about, Mayor Susan Cohen said, “I was reading several articles about people who had bought puppies in pet stores and had issues.
“Then (officials) started to close stores in different towns and at the end of last year the New Jersey Residents Against Puppy Mills sent me a model ordinance. The said many towns had adopted such an ordinance.
“Manalapan residents formed Manalapaws on Facebook and care a lot for the safety and well being of their pets. We have a lot of residents who are passionate about cats. Every day there are more very sad stories about dogs getting sick from pet stores,” Cohen said.
The ordinance states that “a significant number of puppies and kittens sold at pet shops come from commercial breeding facilities where the health and welfare of the animals are not adequately provided for” and that “the documented abuses endemic to puppy and kitten mills include over-breeding, inbreeding, minimal to non-existent veterinary care, lack of adequate space and lack of adequate exercise.”
The ordinance does not prevent an individual from obtaining a dog or cat directly from a breed-specific rescue organization or shelter, or from obtaining an animal from a breeder who permits a person to observe the conditions in which the dogs or cats are bred or to speak directly with the breeder about those conditions.
In October 2016, the Marlboro Township Council adopted a similar ordinance which permits pet stores in the municipality to only sell dogs and cats that arrive at the store from an animal care facility or an animal rescue organization. At present, there are no pet stores in Marlboro.