North Carolina Governor Stein Vetoes Bill Containing Sneaky Pet Store Amendment

Yesterday, Governor Josh Stein announced his veto of North Carolina House Bill 96, citing a recently added pet store amendment as the reason for his decision.  

“This legislation originally addressed squatters, and I supported it. At the last moment, however, an unrelated amendment was added that prohibits local governments from regulating pet stores,” said Governor Stein. “This bill would facilitate inhumane puppy mills in North Carolina. Without this provision, I would sign the legislation. With it, I cannot support it.”   

Best Friends Animal Society, a leading national animal welfare organization working to save the lives of dogs and cats in America's shelters and make the country no-kill*, applauds Governor Stein for rejecting this pernicious attempt to protect puppy-peddling pet stores. Pet stores often source puppies from large-scale commercial facilities known as puppy mills. Puppy mills are high-volume breeding operations where profit takes priority over the health of the pets. The last-minute amendment added to HB 96 would have expressly prevented local governments in North Carolina from banning the sale of puppies in pet stores or from imposing additional regulations on pet stores and would have empowered puppy mills in the state.  

Animal welfare organizations have long advocated against puppy mills, and the success of this effort reflects growing public awareness of the issue.  

“With this veto, Governor Stein sent a clear message to the puppy mill industry,” said Julie Castle, CEO, Best Friends Animal Society. “Puppy mills are both inhumane and contribute to more pets dying in shelters, and legislative support from leaders like Governor Stein go a long way in helping reduce the number of pets being subjected to this inhumane treatment and ultimately entering shelters.”  

The Best Friends Animal Society Action Team is comprised of nearly 200,000 volunteer animal advocates across the United States, with more than 3,000 members in North Carolina. Castle added, “Best Friends Action Team members showed up for North Carolina pets over the holiday weekend, flooding the governor’s office with messages requesting their governor veto this bill. We are so grateful that he listened and took swift action to help North Carolina continue on its path to becoming a no-kill state.” 

Those interested in helping dogs and cats in shelters can learn more and register to become an Action Team member at bestfriends.org/actionteam. 

*No-kill is defined by a 90% save rate for animals entering a shelter and is a meaningful and common-sense benchmark for measuring lifesaving progress. Typically, the number of pets who are suffering from irreparable medical or behavioral issues that compromise their quality of life and prevent them from being rehomed is not more than 10% of all dogs and cats entering shelters. For any community to be no-kill, all stakeholders in that community must work together to achieve and sustain that common goal while prioritizing community safety and good quality of life for pets as guiding no-kill principles. This means cooperation among animal shelters, animal rescue groups, government agencies, community members and other stakeholders, all committed to best practices and protocols.