Skip to content

Online petition to ban retail pet sales is no good without addresses, Abbotsford says

Lack of full names, addresses means plea to ban retail pet sales not officially received
9053884_web1_puppy

An online petition to try to get the City of Abbotsford to ban the sale of pets won’t carry any official weight because many of the 1,409 signatories lacked full names and addresses, as required through provincial legislation.

On Sept. 9, a Chilliwack-based non-profit organization called “FurBaby Rescues” created a petition on Change.org, a popular website for online petitions. By Sept. 27, the petition had garnered more than 1,409 signatures, and was submitted to the City of Abbotsford. (The petition currently has more than 1,400 signatories.)

The petition called on the city to ban retail sales of pets, as some other municipalities have done. In June, Vancouver council voted to ban the sales of cats, dogs and rabbits in a move that was welcomed by the SPCA. Such a ban would still be able to adopt pets from “reputable breeders” or rescue organizations. It says retail sales of pets leads to overpopulation of domestic animals.

But the petition calling on the City of Abbotsford to institute such a claim doesn’t adhere to Community Charter rules for a petition to be formally received by the city clerk. Such petitions must include the full name and home address of each signatory. But the Change.org petition lacks many such details, with signatures including names, but also in some cases nicknames, and only a general location.

Staff told council they would send a letter back to the originators of the petition.