TUCKER, Ga. — The Tucker City Council voted to pass new legislation in order to stop people from selling dogs, cats and rabbits in public spaces.
According to the city, that includes parking lots, along roads and other public areas.
Going forward, violators can be cited by the city’s code enforcement department, helping close an enforcement gap.
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Speaking with Channel 2’s Susan Hendricks, residents who support the measure said it should help prevent crowding animal shelters in DeKalb County.
Tucker officials said they hope cracking down on sales like these will encourage more people to adopt animals already waiting for homes.
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“Anywhere that’s out in public and somebody has maybe a wagon of puppies and they look all cute,” Dana Davis, an animal advocate said. “We don’t know where those animals are coming from.”
The new ordinance in Tucker targets what it calls transient pet sales of dogs, cats and domestic rabbits when they’re sold in parking lots, along the road or at places like public parks.
Transient animal sales are already banned in Georgia.
Tucker’s new ordinance just gives local law enforcement a way to take action.
“Tucker’s proud to take this first step, but I think the real opportunity is not just for the city of Tucker but for cities all across DeKalb and actually all across the metro in our state to adopt a local ban on transient pet sales, so we can provide that local enforcement,” Tucker Mayor Anne Lerner told Channel 2 Action News.
Davis said these sales can lead to impulse buys for a cute puppy on the side of the road, but that can also mean the pet ends up in one of the county’s crowded shelters.
“So the intake every single year keeps going up, and it’s going up dramatically,” Davis said. “There’s animals that are euthanized every week.”
Davis, who was at the meeting when the Tucker City Council passed the ordinance, said she hopes it means fewer animals will enter the shelters and that more adoptions happen.
Repeat violators of the ordinance could also face up to $500 fines per animal, according to Davis.
“It’s $100 per the first fine, $250 for the second one and $500 for everyone after that,” Davis said. “So, if they are selling five puppies, those each count as one.”
City officials have been working on this ordinance for months, with it first presented to the council for consideration in March.
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