The Los Angeles Personnel and Animal Welfare Committee voted 3-0 on Tuesday, despite concerns regarding enforcement from one member, to recommend the City Council ban the sale of commercially bred dogs, cats and rabbits in pet stores citywide.
Councilman Paul Koretz, the committee's chairman, proposed the ban earlier this year with hopes that it would help reduce the number of abandoned animals and ease the burden on shelters that care for the strays.
The committee also hopes the law will help in local efforts to shut down puppy and kitten mills or large-scale breeding operations that are often unsanitary and overcrowded.
Los Angeles resident Patty Senker, who said she's been on three puppy mill raids in Tennessee and Texas, was brought to tears just trying to describe to the committee the conditions she saw animals being raised in at the puppy mills she visited.
"What I saw was beyond decency," she said. "To pass this ordinance would be almost as great a gift to our city as it would be to the animals and those who care about them."
The proposed ordinance is expected to go before the City Council as early as next month, Brenda F. Barnette, general manager of Los Angeles Animal Services.
Critics say the law, if passed, will only drive people to the Internet or to local breeders.
