IRVINE – The latest chapter in a fast-growing debate over animal welfare in puppy mills and other venues played out Tuesday night in Irvine, where elected officials backed government intervention to safeguard pets and animals used for entertainment.

On a 4-1 vote that drew a standing ovation, the City Council banned retail sales of dogs and cats, rodeos and circuses featuring exotic animals.

The move mirrored actions that have become common across North America as concern mounts over large-scale breeding operations supplying pet stores. Similar prohibitions on shops selling canines and felines have been enacted or proposed recently in several Canadian provinces as well as cities in California, Texas, Missouri and Ohio.

Society is “moving toward a more thoughtful and conscientious approach to animals,” speaker Claire Kim said Tuesday night. “This ordinance responds to the spirit of our times.”

Councilman Jeff Lalloway, the sole dissenter, said there is a “special place in hell” for those who mistreat animals but criticized his colleagues for increasing business regulations.

Scores of locals – including one dressed as a cheerful dog – turned out for the hearing, and 53 of them addressed the council. Supporters of the new laws outnumbered opponents, but the latter were represented by numerous speakers.

Dave Link, owner of Precision Pet Products in Costa Mesa, called the ban on retail sales “a waste of time and a waste of tax dollars” that would prove “bad for the pet industry, bad for the economy, bad for the city of Irvine.”

Councilman Larry Agran took issue with that logic, noting that the Irvine Co. – a large employer and owner of shopping centers throughout central Orange County – in August said it would not rent new space to retailers selling dogs and cats. The only affected pet store in Irvine is Russo’s at the Spectrum, which will be allowed to sell dogs and cats until its lease expires in October 2012.

Several speakers described abuse behind the scenes at traditional circuses, and one man played a video of elephants being beaten by trainers. Circuses without wild animals, such as Cirque du Soleil, can still operate in Irvine.

No rodeos have taken place in Irvine since its incorporation 40 years ago, but several attendees denounced banning such shows.

Gilbert Aguirre of the Rancho Mission Viejo Rodeo recalled cattle herds on the old Irvine Ranch. “Talk about a ranching heritage – you’re sitting right in the middle of it here in Irvine,” Aguirre said.

City staffers also reviewed proposals to mandate spaying and neutering of dogs but ended up recommending an educational campaign and possible incentives for the surgery, ideas the council authorized them to study.

As a whole, the laws put Irvine in the vanguard of animal-welfare regulations, Agran said, comparing the vote to Irvine’s nation-leading effort in 1989 to restrict ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons.

“When we did (that),” Agran said, “other cities, the states, the country as a whole adopted policies that were curative in their effect.”

Contact the writer: 714-796-7952 or joverley@ocregister.com