Animal board recommends banning Wichita pet stores from selling dogs, cats from breeders

A recommendation to ban pet stores from selling dogs and cats from breeders gained approval from Wichita’s Animal Control Advisory Board on Wednesday.

Board members said the recommendation will be sent to the Wichita Police Department and then to the City Council.

The two Wichita Petland stores both sell animals from breeders. Owners of both the east and west Petland stores spoke against the recommendation at the meeting.

“Sometimes those folks tend to start talking, and it almost sounds like what they’re saying turns to facts,” Troy Hertel, the owner of Petland in west Wichita, said during public comments. “We haven’t heard any [evidence.]”

About 20 community members spoke at the meeting. Thirteen spoke in favor of the recommendation, many citing personal experiences they’ve had with Petland puppies. One shared a story about a Husky puppy she got from Petland, who later became aggressive and had to be euthanized. Another one shared the story of a puppy that suffered with extreme anxiety that made it hard to breathe.

There are about 100 Petland stores across the United States. The US Humane Society wrote in a 2022 report that 11 breeders on their “Horrible Hundred” breeders list sold to Petland. According to the Humane Society, seven of the 100 worst animal dealers in the country reside in Kansas. The report found that a breeding operation with ties to one of those dealers sold to a Wichita Petland location in 2018.

Petland east owner Brad Bockus said in an earlier interview that Petland only partners with breeders who don’t have any violations on their most recent USDA inspection related to veterinary care of animals on their property.

Emily Hurst, CEO of the Kansas Humane Society, was one of the speakers. She urged the community to look at other policies beyond buying from breeders.

“I just don’t want this community to hang their hat on the fact” that a ban on commercial pets “is going to solve all of our problems,” Hurst said.

She said in an earlier interview that the city could instead enact policies like trap-neuter-release or mandatory spay and neuter.

The Kansas Humane Society is at maximum capacity. Although less animals would help the shelter, Hurst said Petland could just move into a different close-by city, like Maize or Andover, to continue their business.

Board member Elaine Stephen, who voted to table the item, said that the data wasn’t there to support the ban and that anecdotes can be manipulative.

“Anecdotes leave an impression in the mind that for most people far outweighs data,” Stephen said.

The motion to table the item failed, with some board members saying that waiting two months for the next meeting was too long for people to wait — especially for the people who attended the meeting in order to hear the vote.

Board member Ellen Querner made the motion to pass the recommendation.

Contributing: Matthew Kelly of The Eagle.

This story was originally published July 20, 2022 at 8:50 PM.