We are a group of 8th graders starting this petition to raise awareness about pet retail stores in the state of Colorado. Pet retail stores mainly buy their puppies from puppy mills, and leave the dogs in abusive conditions. These conditions include;

Small glass cages with 6+ dogs inside

Cages in the wall with 4-6+ dogs.

Dogs water comes from a hamster water bottle attached to the side of the cage

Dogs fight for water 

Dogs don't get walks

Dogs are left overnight alone 

Dogs get really sick

Dogs can't leave the cages to relieve themselves

and more

Pet retail stores mainly buy dogs from puppy mills, so if you ban pet retail stores from buying from puppy mills and only allow them to buy directly from the shelters, this will cause puppy mills to get no profit and run out of business. Sad thing is, these are businesses benefitting off of selling dogs at high numbers.

Some dogs that are bought from pet retail stores die shortly afterwards because they are so sick. At one store, dogs food is mixed with paper from the cage. 

Pet retail stores sell pure breeds for way overpriced prices. 

California just passed a law that banned all Pet Retail Stores in the state of California, so Colorado should follow in their footsteps. Signing this petition would help raise awareness to Colorado's governor, Jared Polis. 

Please sign and support our precious puppies and kittens. 

PETITION UPDATE: 

This petition ended up reaching 3.5k signs and it keeps growing! 

We wanted to keep you updated on how we used this petition. We ended up having a meeting with the Majority Leader of the House Alec Garnett on Tuesday, March 19th. He answered a lot of our questions, like the challenges with the bill. We learned that the real issues are people who bring in puppy mill dogs from other states using the internet. There are many challenges with regulating this;

Not enough PACFA employees to catch them

Not enough regulations

Not enough awareness about buying dogs online

These challenges are much bigger than they look, but there is a sunset bill that is being passed to get 1.6 FTE in PACFA until 2026. This is a big start if we want an impact now. 

But, what you guys can do is raise awareness about harmful sellers online. If you do not buy from someone who pulls a puppy out of a truck in a WalMart parking lot, you are cutting off their profits. 

Humane breeders will look into you and your background to double check that you are a good fit for the puppy. Those are the breeders you want to buy from. Inhumane breeders will refuse to let you see the parents and sell you the dog with no background check (most likely in a parking lot at night) And have a truck full of puppies. So, if we raise awareness about the signs of an inhumane breeder; we can stop accidentally buying puppy mill dogs. 

We look forward to continue working on this issue.

Signed, 

Maya, Bella, and Maddie