Humane Pet Store Bill (New Jersey)

The Animal Legal Defense Fund supports this bill.

Sponsors: State Senator Brian Stack (D-33), Senator Raj Mukherji (D-32), Assemblywomen Shama A. Haider (D-37), and Assemblywoman Luanne M. Peterpaul (D-11)

Introduced: February 5, 2024

If enacted, the Humane Pet Store Bill (S.2511/A.4051) would prohibit the retail sale of dogs, cats, and rabbits in New Jersey.

Selling commercially raised puppies, kittens, and rabbits in pet stores raises serious animal and consumer protection issues. By prohibiting pet stores from selling dogs, cats, and rabbits, while encouraging them to transition to a companion animal products and services model, lawmakers can protect animals and consumers while promoting humane businesses.

Pet stores that sell puppies are an outlier in their own industry. Most pet stores profit from companion animal products and services rather than mill-bred puppies, and some host adoption events with local shelters or rescues. There are only 17 puppy selling pet stores in New Jersey, while 48 humane pet stores have endorsed the Humane Pet Store Bill.

Similar legislation has passed in seven states (New York, Maine, Maryland, Illinois, Washington, Oregon, and California) and more than 480 localities — including 145 New Jersey communities that have prohibited the sale of dogs and cats in pet stores.

Why is this legislation important?

Retail pet stores that sell puppies pose numerous issues for animals and consumers, including:

• Puppy mill cruelty: Public records show that New Jersey pet stores source puppies from large-scale, inhumane commercial breeders and brokers, many of which have terrible records on the welfare of the animals. Mother dogs suffer immensely and are treated as mere breeding machines.
• Grueling transport: Puppies sold in pet stores are taken from their mothers and littermates, crammed into cages with other stressed and/or sick puppies, and trucked across the county in urine- and feces-filled cages. These living, feeling animals are treated as mere products.
• Misleading sales tactics: Pet stores sell puppies for thousands of dollars with false promises of “humane,” regulated breeders and healthy, socialized puppies when this is rarely true.
• Sick puppies: Far too many New Jersey consumers have unknowingly purchased ailing puppies from pet stores, leading to unexpected high veterinary bills and sometimes the heartache of their new puppy dying.
• Predatory lending: Pet stores often push financing options on customers with promises of low interest rates or no interest, but consumers have ended up with interest rates as high as 198%.

Coalition Support: The Humane Society of the United States; the Associated Humane Societies; St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center

For more information about animal protection legislation in New Jersey and opportunities to take action for animals, visit aldf.org/newjersey.