Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Richmond Hill Decides to Collaborate Not Ban


A battle has been waging in Richmond Hill, Ontario. Activists have been working to discredit local pet store owner Elif Parnian of Pet Friends implying that she offers sub-standard dog and cats to her community.  After weeks of attacks, Elif finally had her say Monday night at a council meeting.   A brief presentation to council outlined Elif's business and husbandry practices, addressing accusations about her breeder and the care of the animals in her facility.  Supported by her customers, her veterinarian and proof of inspection for both her and her breeder's facilities, Elif was able to prove that she operates a top notch facility and offers healthy animals backed by guarantees and health records.  By the end of the meeting Councillors voted unanimously to pass a revised motion, changing it from how to stop the sale of dogs and cats in stores to how to stop animal mill animals from being offered in Richmond Hill by any source.  In addition Councillors asked Elif to join the city working group to investigate how to make this happen. 



Elif contacted us weeks ago to ask for assistance and we were able to offer her the Municipal Toolkit crafted to help members address this very situation.  It was our pleasure to work with her and offer her additional resources as she prepared.   We also congratulate Richmond Hill city council for doing their own research and being open to working with their constituents.  We will also be contacting council to offer our assistance.  This is an excellent example of what can happen when parties are willing to share their resources and accept the help of others in an effort to find solutions through collaboration.  This isn’t as much a victory for pet stores but more of a victory for allowing good sources to continue to offer healthy pets to their community.  Regardless of which side a stakeholder is on, city, breeder, rescue, citizen or business, the common goal must always be the well being of animals in our communities.  Each may come at it from a different angle, but ultimately, there is huge potential for change when all parties work together.

2 comments:

  1. I would like to correct some statements in this article.

    I am the leader of those "Activists," and I would like to make it very clear that I am not interested in "working to discredit local pet store owner Elif Parnian of Pet Friends implying that she offers sub-standard dog and cats to her community." I contacted Pet's Friend, and asked them to sign the Humane Society's Pet Friendly pledge. I provided them with all of my contact information. To this day I have never spoken to, or heard from, Elif Parnian. The point of our campaign is to stop the sale of commercially bred animals in pet stores. We are a group of pet store owners, registered breeders, and animal lovers.

    As for the statement, "Elif was able to prove that she operates a top notch facility and offers healthy animals backed by guarantees and health records." - this statement is erroneous. This was never brought into question, as it was a city council meeting concerned with passing a bylaw, not a court of law seeking to prove anything about a facility.

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  2. Way to go Ruchmond Hill - side stepping the whole issue! Now there will be more puppies and kittens from mills being sold while other animals sit in Pounds and are killed because no one adopts them. You should be proud of yourselves....NOT!

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