U.S. District Judge David Campbell upheld the Phoenix ordinance banning pet stores from selling cats or dogs from commercial breeders.
The owner of a Phoenix pet shop called Puppies 'N Love challenged the city ordinance, saying that it is unconstitutional because it blocked interstate commerce. Puppies 'N Love is the only store in the city that still sells commercially bred dogs and cats. Other pet shops partner with animal shelters to help them adopt out animals.
The federal judge said that Puppies 'N Love is an "exemplary" store that didn't buy from puppy mills, but he noted the court's job was "not to judge the wisdom or fairness" of the law, just to determine whether it was constitutional, The Huffington Post reported.
The Phoenix law permits small-scale individual breeders to sell dogs directly to purchasers, and it prohibits carnivals and amusement parks from awarding animals as prizes, AZ Central reported.
It was also found out that the pet shop had purchased from three breeders that had violated the U.S. Department of Agriculture standards. But owner Frank Mineo, the owner of Puppies 'N Love, said that they no longer purchase from those breeders and only buy pets from reputable small-scale breeders.
A similar law is already observed in more than 59 states in the U.S., as previously reported by HNGN.
