Damakant Jayshi
Wausau’s Public Health and Safety Committee on Monday created an ordinance restricting the sale of cats and dogs in the city at pet stores, a measure that now goes to the 11-member Common Council for consideration.
The ban is preemptive since Wausau does not have a pet store at this time. Historically, several pet stores operated in Wausau, some of which sold cats and dogs on site.
The ordinance was endorsed by animal rights activists and the Wausau Police Department. They say commercial stores where pet cats and dogs are sold, known as “puppy mills” and “kitten mills,” are rife with abuse and inhumane conditions.
In a memo to the PHS Committee, police officials said if they can remove the demand for such sales, “we can make Wausau a safer place for animals.”
The ordinance – Section 8.08.115 Restrictions on the sale of animals – bars pet stores from selling, delivering, offering for sale, bartering, auctioning, giving away, or otherwise transferring or disposing of animals. The original ordinance also included rabbits along with cats and dogs. But PHS Committee Chair Lisa Rasmussen suggested keeping only dogs and cats in the restrictive category, saying they received emails from residents about the rabbit provision, and the committee removed the language.
The original ordinance discussed in September aimed to prohibit large scale commercial breeding. Assistant City Attorney Nathan Miller said he replaced the heading with ‘restrictions on the sale of animals’ since that’s what the ordinance focuses on.
The ordinance passed on Monday does not prohibit pet stores from collaborating with animal shelters from offering space to showcase adoptable animals, as long as the store doesn’t receive a fee or have any ownership interest. Animals cannot be kept overnight.
Those violating the provisions will be slapped with a civil penalty of $500, with each dog or cat offered for sale considered a separate violation.
The ordinance proposal comes in the wake of controversy in neighboring Weston where officials approved a license to a pet store to sell puppies, leading to calls for banning the sale of puppies in retail pet stores through brokers.
Before passing this measure, the committee also discussed measures to regulate “commercial kennels.” These two ordinances are not related.
The second proposed measure explains commercial kennels as “a pack or collection of dogs or cats on a single commercial premises where animals are maintained for boarding, daycare, grooming, training, hunting, or for any other commercial purposes except for the sale or breeding of animals or as otherwise provided by law.” The committee directed Asst. Attorney Miller and Wausau Police Department to rework on fees and language and bring it back to the committee in January.
