Cape Coral Code of Ordinances § 12-128 Retail sale of dogs and cats prohibited.
§ 12-128 - Retail sale of dogs and cats prohibited.
(a) Purpose and intent. The purpose and intent of this section is to discourage the retail sale of commercially bred dogs and cats from puppy mills and kitten factories. These facilities often house animals in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions without adequate veterinary care, food, water, and socialization, thereby causing or allowing heritable and congenital disorders and the spread of infectious diseases, any of which may be present immediately after a sale or not until several years later. It is further the intent of this section to require an adoption-based business model for the retail sale of dogs and cats at pet stores, whereby all dogs and cats shall be sourced from stray or unwanted pets that have been taken in by an animal care facility or animal rescue organization.
(b) Definitions. For the purpose of this article, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning:
Animal care facility means an animal control center or animal shelter, maintained by or under contract with any state, county, or municipality; whose mission and practice is, in whole, or in significant part, the rescue, care, and placement of animals in permanent homes or with rescue organizations; and which does not breed animals.
Animal rescue organization means a humane society or other duly incorporated nonprofit organization, which has tax exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code; whose mission and practice is, in whole, or in significant part, the rescue, care, and placement of animals in permanent homes; and which does not breed animals.
Cat means an animal of any age of the species of domestic cat, Felis catus.
Dog means an animal of any age of the species of domestic dog, Canis familiaris.
Pet store means a retail establishment in which dogs and cats are sold, exchanged, bartered, or offered for sale as pets to the general public. Such definition shall not include an animal care facility, animal rescue organization, or a non-retail establishment at which the only dogs and cats sold, exchanged, bartered, or offered for sale were bred or reared on the premises of such establishment.
Pet store operator means a person who owns or operates a pet store.
(c) Prohibition. No pet store shall sell, display, offer for sale, deliver, trade, barter, lease, auction, give away, or otherwise transfer or dispose of dogs or cats. Nothing in this section shall prohibit pet stores from collaborating with animal care facilities or animal rescue organizations to offer space for such entities to showcase adoptable dogs and cats to the public and collecting such facilities' or organization's adoption fee.
(d) Disclosures. A pet store that provides space for the adoption of dogs or cats shall post, in a conspicuous location on the cage or enclosure of each such animal, a sign stating the name of the animal care facility or animal rescue organization that owns the dog or cat offered for adoption.
(e) Amortization. Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in this section, any existing pet store that sells dogs or cats and possessed an active City local business tax receipt on October 1, 2018, shall be permitted to continue its sales of dogs and cats in the City. The grandfather provisions provided herein shall not be transferable or assignable in any manner. Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in this section, any pet store that sells dogs or cats and possesses an active City local business tax receipt on October 1, 2019, shall be permitted to continue its sales of dogs and cats until September 30, 2020.
(f) Enforcement and penalties.
(1) Failure to comply with this Section 12-128 shall constitute a violation of Section 12-128 and shall subject the pet store operator to the code enforcement provisions and procedures provided in Sections 2-81 through 2-96, Cape Coral Code of Ordinances. Violations of this Section 12-128 shall be punishable by a fine in the amount $250.00 for a first violation, and $500.00 for any subsequent violation occurring within one (1) year after a finding of a violation of the previous offense.
(2) The City may also initiate a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction to enjoin any violation of this section.
(3) Each dog or cat sold, displayed, offered for sale, delivered, traded, bartered, leased, auctioned, given away, or otherwise transferred in violation of this section shall constitute a separate and distinct offense. Each failure to post a sign for an individual dog or cat as required by this section shall constitute a separate and distinct offense.
(Ord. 37-19, § 1, 8-5-2019)