LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — When you come across a cute little puppy at the pet store, it is hard to not fall in love.
However, then you have animals at the shelter whose eyes show they are also in need of some love and affection.
“We do have a pet overpopulation issue that has been really exacerbated by the economic crisis we are seeing,” said Hilarie Grey, CEO of The Animal Foundation.
The Animal Foundation currently has more than 800 animals.
Grey said she is on board with Clark County’s new proposal to ban the sale of dogs, cats, and pigs at stores.
She hopes it will encourage more people to be open-minded about the animals available at the shelter, as those cute puppies you see at the store could be surrendered when they aren’t so little anymore.
“It is an idea whose time has come and really socializing to our community that there are pets in need due to a variety of circumstances,” Grey said.
But those whose livelihood depends on the sales of puppies say they aren’t doing anything wrong.
“I would love for us to sit down and run the numbers. Let’s see if these animals at Animal Foundation or local rescue part of our animals are, are we the problem,” said Trevor Duggan, the owner of Puppy World.
8 News Now’s Victoria Saha went to some stores that sold puppies, prices started at $2000.
The Animal Foundation gets animals of all different sizes and breeds for just an adoption fee, and sometimes those are waived.
There wasn’t any decision made in Tuesday’s meeting, the next step would be to do a business impact study.