Urge the Massachusetts committee to keep the ban on pet store dog and cat sales

Context

Puppy mills are commercial breeders that keep dogs in poor conditions and supply pet shops with puppies and kittens. The Senate's PETS Act bans retail sales of dogs and cats in pet shops, but the House bill left that provision out. A small committee will meet in the coming months to merge the two bills, and no date has been set.

The strategy

Committees merging two versions of a bill must choose which provisions to keep, and public messages show that a provision has support. This form asks the committee to keep the Senate's pet store sales ban in the final bill.

Why it scored 40 points

Scale: Big

Rough estimate: about 5,000 dogs and cats a year pass through Massachusetts pet shops, which is under 1 million.

Severity: Serious

Ending pet shop sales would cut off one supply route for puppy mill animals, a meaningful but limited improvement.

Chance of success: Plausible

The Senate's version includes the ban and the House's does not, and the merged text has not been decided.

Your difference: Moderate

Participation isn't published, and each message goes to a committee deciding the final text, which is tallied rather than read individually.