LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Mayor Shelley Berkley says the city is prepared to ban the sale of dogs and cats in new pet stores, but an outright ban for all stores isn't in the works right now.
Berkley — in an interview with Channel 13 in her seventh-floor City Hall office — said two ordinances regulating pet stores are on the council's agenda for August.
WATCH | Mayor Berkley shares thoughts on pet store ban
One, advanced by Councilwoman Victoria Seaman, would more strictly regulate enclosures at pet stores where animals are kept, including animals that are sick.
The second, sponsored by Berkley and Councilwoman Nancy Brune, would ban the sale of dogs, cats, rabbits and potbellied pigs in new pet stores that open in city limits, but would continue to allow sales at existing stores.
But the mayor said her ultimate goal is a complete ban.
"What I would like to see is it eventually phase out," she said. "I don't think we would pass an immediate ban, but I do think that we are going to move very rapidly in our August meeting."
Added Berkley: "And I would eventually like to see a ban that may not be immediate, tomorrow, but I think the goal would be to eliminate the sale of pets in pet shops."
Critics of pet stores say they enable unethical, out-of-state breeders, who overbreed animals and treat them poorly. And, they say, pet stores sometimes keep animals in poor conditions and sell sick pets to customers.
Pet stores, however, say they maintain high standards and work to ensure animals are healthy and treated well in stores before they are purchased.
The issue came to a head in Carson City this year, where lawmakers on the Assembly Natural Resources Committee proposed Assembly Bill 487, which would have imposed a statewide pet-store sales ban.
That bill was opposed by a trade group representing pet stores, who hired a former Senate Democratic caucus executive director as its lobbyist. The bill was eventually gutted and turned into an interim study instead, but even that proposal failed to pass by the session's end.
During testimony, city lobbyists testified in support of the bill in its original form.
The city at one time adopted a pet store sales ban, but the measure was repealed before it could go into effect. Currently, Clark County bans pet store sales, while Henderson prohibits them in new pet stores. That's had the effect of driving dog and cat sales into the city and Henderson.
Berkley said while she prefers a total ban, the City Council may not yet have the votes to make that happen.
"I would like to get a unanimous vote from the City Council, so it shows strength that we're working together and protecting the animals,' Berkley said. "I think I would have a harder time getting, having a unanimous vote for a total ban than a gradual ban, but the goal is to eliminate the puppy mills and the [sale in] the pet shops."
The valley has seen some high-profile cases of animal abuse, including Reba the bulldog, who was taped inside a storage bin and left to die in the Las Vegas summer heat. That case galvanized animal advocates, who reacted with outrage when a bill to increase penalties for animal cruelty died.
That bill, Assembly Bill 381, was resurrected by legislative leaders and passed the Assembly unanimously and the Senate with just seven senators in dissent.
Berkley said Las Vegas's animal shelter is overcrowded, and that the epidemic of abuse is shocking.
"We are dealing with real bad human behavior," Berkley said. "We're talking about abandonment, abuse, neglect of pets. Why you would have a pet and mistreat it is a mystery to me, but it happens all the time. ... And so I want to do everything we can to protect the pets."
The City Council will take up the animal ordinances at its meeting on August 6.
