NWA EDITORIAL | Fayetteville’s ban on dog, cat sales proved too much for state lawmakers

City forced off its pet sales ban

Petland, 637 E. Joyce Blvd. in Fayetteville, is shown in this Nov. 23, 2022 file photo. After the Fayetteville City Council voted to ban the retail sale of cats and dogs in July 2022, Petland filed suit against the city. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/J.T. Wampler)
Petland, 637 E. Joyce Blvd. in Fayetteville, is shown in this Nov. 23, 2022 file photo. After the Fayetteville City Council voted to ban the retail sale of cats and dogs in July 2022, Petland filed suit against the city. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/J.T. Wampler)

It was a unanimous 8-0 vote of the City Council nearly a year ago to ban the sale of dogs and cats within Fayetteville by anyone other than the city's own animal shelter or an organization the shelter's leaders approved of.

The decision was based on the worst estimations of how those animals might be bred and cared for in for-profit circumstances. The proposal came along contemporaneous to a private business preparing to open its doors and do precisely what the new law would prohibit.

Mayor Lioneld Jordan and others backed the ordinance as a moral cause. Jordan said it was "the right thing to do."

Such an evaluation is clearly in the eyes of the beholder, and that's how Fayetteville came around recently to overturning its decision. But it wasn't by choice.

The Arkansas Legislature, in its most recent regular session, approved a state law that was specifically meant to neuter Fayetteville's capacity to be so aggressive in its regulation of dog and cat sales. The city faced litigation from the pet store in question, but the Legislature stepped in first to negate the city's preference for its own animal shelter or other organizations it considered more agreeable than profit-driven business ventures.

The problem for Fayetteville was the rather generic arguments made in support of its ordinance. It seemed to be accepted at face value that a private business couldn't possibly sell animals based on anything but a profit motive. Whether a private business could operate on the same morally acceptable ground as a municipal animal shelter simply seemed out of the question.

We don't assert at all that we know which businesses do and don't do business with breeders who operate without sufficient safety and health protocols. But we're not invoking a new ban on sales, either. Fayetteville fell short in actually proving its concerns, so the Arkansas Legislature was eager to nix its authority to regulate a private business based on fears more than facts.

But even if the city passed its ordinance relying too much on emotion, it doesn't prevent any person in Fayetteville or any other community from establishing their own ground rules for acquiring a pet. The last thing any pet lover wants to do is to provide economic support for breeders who behave unethically, so it's important to investigate the source wherever they are shopping for their next furry friend.

It's also important to recognize almost every community has dogs and cats in their shelters available for adoption and ready for their new homes. Shelter pets indeed make wonderful pets and it's a pretty great feeling when you've rescued an animal and put him into an improved situation.


Whats the point?

Even after Fayetteville nixed its own ban on dog and cat sales, individuals can apply their own moral standards to the acquisition of an animal.

 



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