(Georgia Recorder) — A House proposal would crack down on unlicensed breeders who can often be found selling puppies from roadsides, parking lots, and other outdoor locations throughout Georgia.
The bill, sponsored by Concord Republican Rep. Beth Camp, is designed to stanch the flow of unwanted animals streaming into shelters across the state at a time of rampant overcrowding.
The measure cleared the House Agriculture and Consumers Affairs Committee with one dissenting vote Tuesday, but it still needs to be approved by the full House by March 6, which is Crossover Day, to have the best shot at making it to the governor’s desk this year.
If it becomes law, the bill will ban the practice of selling animals in parking lots, on sidewalks, seasonal flea markets and other similar outdoor areas that tend to be hotspots for unlicensed breeders who prioritize profit over the wellbeing of the animals in their care.
Breeders would still be able to sell dogs, cats and rabbits from their home, business, a veterinarian’s office or other designated locations, like outside a police department.
“There’s no consumer recourse if you buy an animal from someone that you don’t know in a place that there’s no traceability,” Camp said Tuesday. “It’s a twofold bill. It’s protecting the consumer, and it’s also protecting, in my humble opinion, the animals who unfortunately get dumped in animal shelters when people are unhappy with them because it’s not what they thought they were.”
If approved, someone who violates the measure would be fined $100 for the first offense, $250 for the second and $500 for the third or subsequent offense. Each animal sold in violation of the measure would represent a separate offense, including if multiple animals were sold on the same day.
Proponents of the bill argued that these unlicensed breeders are also often involved in other illicit activities and that Camp’s proposal would make it harder for them to skirt the law, which requires someone to get a state license if they sell more than one litter of puppies or 30 adult dogs in a year.
Rep. Leesa Hagan, a Lyons Republican, said she regularly hears complaints from back home about people lining up at the Walmart parking lot trying to “make a few bucks off” of animals instead of attempting to control the proliferation of their pets.
“I see this bill as a good start on us handling that situation because it discourages irresponsible breeding practices, irresponsible handling of these animals, while it does not impact our licensed breeders in any way,” Hagan said.
Peggy McCarthey, a volunteer with the Georgia Pet Coalition, which is an advocacy group that lobbies at the state Capitol, says the bill would help address one of the drivers of Georgia’s pet overpopulation problem.
“Why this bill is so important is because it might seem to someone, ‘Well, this is just someone selling a box of puppies in a parking lot. That’s not a big deal.’ But statewide and cumulatively, it’s a huge problem,” McCarthey said.
Nearly a dozen local governments have passed similar ordinances, but if Camp’s bill becomes law, it would apply statewide.
McCarthey said the bill goes after reckless breeders, not the people whose pets are inadvertently reproducing for a range of reasons, like a lack of resources to spay or neuter their pet.
“This law doesn’t solve everything. This is just one measure that is part of a multi-prong approach,” McCarthey said.
There’s also a new proposal in the Senate calling for a deep dive into the vexing problem during the legislative break. Sen. Carden Summers, a Cordele Republican, has filed a bipartisan resolution Monday that would create a study committee on “combating unscrupulous companion animal breeding practices,” like puppy mills and backyard breeding operations.
Summers’ proposal cites the impact to taxpayers when animals are seized and turned over to already overwhelmed shelters and rescue organizations, as well as the harm done to the unwanted pets who often end up abandoned or euthanized. The state Department of Agriculture seized 136 dogs last month from a puppy mill in Pierce County.
The panel would be tasked with making recommendations on “reducing or preventing unscrupulous companion animal breeding to ensure humane treatment of animals in breeding practices in this state.”
