The Carlsbad City Council has repealed an “urgency ordinance” to ban the sales of dogs and cats at retail pet stores.
Earlier this week the council reversed their decision announced a month ago, designed to shut down puppy mills and kitten factories that mistreat their animals. It excluded existing pet stores.
During last month’s debate on the issue, the council members said they wanted more time to decide what to do with Carlsbad’s lone pet store California Pets, according to City Communications Manager Kristina Rey.
Animal rights activists claimed the store was notorious for selling sickly animals and had been sued multiple times.
City officials said Tuesday that those claims were exaggerations, citing a Carlsbad Police Department report that showed six complaints against California Pets had merit since 2002.
Rey said the council members decided that unscrupulous breeders are the problem, not pet stores, so they revoked the ban on pet sales.
However, the decision will not be final until an official vote at the council’s next meeting in about two weeks, on Nov. 19.
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The City of San Diego passed a similar ban in July.
