The Aurora City Council on Monday evening passed an ordinance to ban the sale of cats and dogs in pet stores in the city.

The decision adds Aurora to a list of cities across the country — including Breckenridge, Superior, and Vail in Colorado — that have adopted similar ordinances.

Actually, the ordinance does not affect any company currently operating in Aurora. No pet store has sold dogs or cats since March 2020, according to city documents.

While animal rescues and animal rights activists celebrated the ordinance’s passing, pet store owners decried it.

Joyce Cohen, who sits on the advisory board for the Pet Animal Care Facilities Act, argued there is not a feasible way for pet stores to be successful without buying from “puppy mills.”

While state laws that allow for the licensing of pet animal facilities can regulate the health and safety of animals from Colorado breeders, they can’t do the same for parent animals that may be in other states, Cohen said.

“Pet stores may not be evil. They may treat their animals wonderfully. But unfortunately, the puppy mills, where they get these animals, do not,” Cohen said.

Cohen urged city councilmembers to “put morality over money and pass this ordinance.”

Aurora Councilmember Curtis Gardner, who voted “no” on the ordinance, called it a “slippery slope” to ban any kind of business.

“I don’t want to go down the road of every time there’s something that we don’t like in an industry, just saying we’re not going to have that industry anymore,” Gardner said. “If somebody dies because of unsafe working conditions, are we not going to let homebuilding anymore in Aurora?”

Instead of banning the sale of cats and dogs, Gardner suggested coming up with an appropriate set of regulations.

Jens Larsen, owner of Denver Perfect Pets in Centennial, said the proposal is wrongheaded.

“Not all people are evil or wrong that are in this business,” Larsen said. “I’ve never had any violations or citations against me. The ordinance banning the sale of puppies and kittens by licensed and regulated breeders that sell to pet stores is just wrong.”

The ordinance was first brought to the city council on July 31, when several advocates cited concerns over what they described as “inhumane” treatment, questionable sourcing of animals and risks to consumers when purchasing unhealthy pets.

The Aurora City Council’s agenda package claims that most animals in retail outlets come through commercial breeding operations, sometimes referred to as “puppy mills,” which, the city’s fact sheet says, have been accused of sacrificing the health, safety and socialization of pets for increased profit margins.

Regional animal shelters — including those in Aurora — are struggling with lack of space. The proposed ordinance limits competition between for-profit breeding operations and animal adoptions, advocates said.

“It’s going to work hand-in-hand with animal rescues in addition to our own pet shelter,” said Councilmember Juan Marcano, one of the ordinance’s sponsors. “It will ensure that we don’t have puppy mills or kitten mills setting up shop in the city of Aurora in the future.”

The ordinance, also sponsored by Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky, excludes private breeders and partnerships between pet stores and animal shelters and rescues, and, thereby, still allows adoption through pet stores.

Animal rights activists and pet owners clashed over the proposal.

Karen Martiny, founder of Animal Rescue of the Rockies, said she struggles with the over-filling of animal shelters and rescues, with euthanasia often the unfortunate end for animals not adopted.

Martiny said she gets emails from shelters all the time with long lists of dogs and cats that need to get out of shelters to make space because they’re so full. Oftentimes, the animals are euthanized because there is logistically no way for the shelters and rescue centers to care for all of them, she said.

The ordinance is important for both the health and safety of the pets and the wellbeing of their owners, she said, adding that “puppy mills” often breed animals with genetic and behavioral issues.

“They’ve been so overbred and their parents have been treated so poorly that they develop problems later on and the people that buy them end up having to spend a lot of money or they get heartbroken because they lose the pet to illness,” Martiny said.

Larsen said ordinances, such as the one passed in Aurora, assume that all commercial breeders are dirty and they mistreat animals when, in fact, most maintain clean, well-kept facilities that breed healthy, well-cared for pets.

Larsen said he constantly battles the “puppy mill” stereotypes often pinned on pet stores like his.

His company, Denver Perfect Pets, for example, works exclusively with USDA certified and licensed breeders, he said, adding all of the pets sold at his store come with an “unsurpassed” health guarantee. He also gives every buyer his personal cell number so they can call if they have issues.

“Animal rights activists want to shut down all the pet stores because they think we buy them all from puppy mills, and that’s a very derogatory term that means dirty, unacceptable, bad conditions. Puppies are not treated right,” Larsen told The Denver Gazette. “Everybody I buy from is licensed by the state and the USDA ... and I just always wonder why we have these regulations but they’re still not good enough for these animal rights activist people.”