Legislation filed by state Sen. Patrick O’Connor, R-Weymouth, and state Rep. Natalie Higgins, D-Leominster, would require pet shops to sell only rescue cats and dogs.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to include a link to the Companion Animal Protection Society's undercover investigation video and to clarify use of the term"puppy mill" as defined by Michigan State University’s Animal Legal & Historical Center. Also, the MassLive investigation was published in 2017.

Pet shops throughout Massachusetts could soon be banned from receiving animals from commercial breeders if two joint bills being pushed by state Sen. Patrick O’Connor, R-Weymouth, and state Rep. Natalie Higgins, D-Leominster, are passed into law.

Under the proposed legislation, pet shops will be required to sell animals that come only from shelters and rescue centers. Higgins’ and O’Connor’s intent is to end the practice of pet shops receiving animals from so-called "puppy mills.” The bills would not affect people buying straight from reputable breeders, however.

According to Michigan State University's Animal Legal & Historical Center, the term “puppy mill” is used to describe “facilities where dogs are forced to breed their whole lives until they are physically incapable” and where profits take precedence over animal welfare.

“I looked into the condition in which some of these cats and dogs are being treated and where they were coming from, and thought it was a no-brainer that Massachusetts should continue to build on the progress we’ve made on animal rights by outright banning the (retail) sales of cats and dogs in pet shops,” O’Connor told the Daily News.

Similar pet shops bans have been passed in Boston, Cambridge and Stoneham.

But while the bills would follow in the footsteps of statewide bans passed in Maryland and California, they would also put Massachusetts pet shops in significant financial risk, according to Robert Likins, vice president of governmental affairs at the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council, an Alexandria, Virginia-based nonprofit organization that “promotes and represents the interest of all segments of the pet industry,” according to Bloomberg Business.com

“While we are absolutely against animal cruelty and support a lot of bills that address it ... this misses the mark,” Likins said. “This doesn’t address animal cruelty. It makes a bunch of assumptions about where pet stores get their puppies and then proposes to basically put the pet stores out of business based on those assumptions that are not supported by facts.”

Legislation that would make more sense, according to Likins, would involve drafting bills that have better "sourcing language" identifying which types of breeders pet shops can receive their animals from.

While Likins thinks most pet shops in Massachusetts “are the poster children” for what well-run pet shops should look like throughout the United States, a number of animal activists groups in the state disagree.

The Companion Animal Protection Society, a nonprofit organization dedicated to exposing animal suffering within the pet industry, recently conducted an undercover investigation in Massachusetts and claims that 10 pet shops in the state receive their puppies from puppy mills.

Individuals working with CAPS visited pet shops posing as consumers, asking the stores directly where they received their animals from, documenting their exact responses. Additionally, the organization was able to review multiple certificate of veterinary inspections at each of those establishments, which are official documents issued by that state government in which the animals were bought; those documents specify what breeder the animal came from.

Pik-A-Pup Kennel in Holliston was among the pet shops identified in the investigation.

A manager at the store, who asked that her name not be used, said the kennel receives its animals from reputable “hobby breeders” that do not mass produce their animals, she said.

The Puppy Place, located in Springfield, was also said to be receiving animals from puppy mills. In 2017, Masslive.com ran an investigative piece reporting on a large number of complaints issued at the store from customers wanting to return their animals that had recently fallen ill. It also reported that the shop was receiving animals from puppy mills.

Katie Kelleher, an administrative assistant at Dog House, the parent company of The Puppy Place, disputes the claims made against the company and said The Puppy Place only receives animals from reputable breeders. The company also sponsors, funds and houses a rescue organization, “Save all Dogs Rescue,” within its stores, she said.

“We definitely do not support puppy mills,” she said. “We do our very best to make sure they are good quality breeders. If we find they are not, we stop buying from them immediately.”

Responding to the claims made that the shop primarily sells sick animals, she said the company sells “thousands of dogs and around 4 percent or less of those dogs sold end up having a vet claim.”

She said O’Connors and Higgins bill would be bad for business.

Because there is a negative stigma around pet shops, many shelters and rescue centers would be reluctant to work with them, she said. She also noted that shelters and rescue centers will always be able to sell their animals at a lower price than pet stores can, since many of them are nonprofit and are run by volunteers, not paid employees.

“Although I understand they have good intentions and I’m all for rescues, absolutely, in terms of business ... it wouldn’t work,” she said. “We wouldn't be competitive at all.”

Buying a new puppy at the Puppy Place costs approximately $1,200, Kelleher said. A dog can be purchased for less than $400 at a rescue organization.

The company cannot start selling puppies from rescue organization it sponsors, Kelleher said, is because it wouldn’t be feasible since the company funds the charity entirely.

“The only reason Save All Dogs is able to operate is because of the funds donated by the Dog House. They don’t have an operating budget of their own.”

Likins echoed Kelleher’s sentiment.

“The idea that the stores can go to a shelter-and-rescue model is unsupported by fact," he said. "A store can't afford to do that. What we’ve heard so far is that the stores that have tried, can’t afford it.

Stephanie Harris, Massachusetts state director of the Humane Society, rebuts the idea that any pet shop could be receiving their animals from responsible breeders, and notes bills like O’Connor's and Higgins' are important for animal welfare.

“While pet shops claim they often receive animals from small-scale breeders, the reality is that pet stores cannot obtain dogs from responsible breeders, because those responsible breeders do not sell puppies to pet store,” she said.

Regardless of whether a breeder is considered reputable or a puppy mill, under the 1966 Animal Welfare Act, all breeders in the United State are required to follow federal standards of care set by United States Department of Agriculture.

Harris noted, however, that the federal standards the breeders are legally obliged to follow are “incredibly low” when it comes to the care of animals and that pet shops work directly with those breeders.

She said puppy mills take advantage of those low standards.

“They allow for dogs to be kept in cramped, stacked wire cages for their entire lives," she said. "They don't require any amount of exercise or socialization."

O’Connor’s bill is being reviewed by the Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure and Higgins' bill is being reviewed by the Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture. There has yet to be any scheduled hearings on either piece of legislation.

Cesareo Contreras can be reached at 508-626-3957 or ccontreras@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @cesareo_r.