BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) – With dogs banned from selling through platforms like the Facebook Marketplace, many are taking a different route and selling puppies under dog food or crate lists, which is a problem for local animal shelters.
The local rescue workers take dogs from the already busy animal shelters as well as from the street and try to send them from the district to places where overpopulation with dogs is not an issue. But they said they can’t keep up with breeders who are adding more dogs into the community who they said they often have health issues.
“We see a lot of cleft lip and cleft lip pups, a lot of which are genetically not healthy, but if people are still willing to pay a few hundred dollars for the dogs they want, then people will still sell.” You. “Dawn Romero, Rescue Coordinator, Unity K9 Express Rescue.
Romero, a local dog rescuer, said the biggest concern is the dogs that are being bred, be it accidentally by family dogs or on purpose by those trying to make a profit, not receiving their vaccines and developing health problems.
She said that she kept seeing posts from people bringing her attention to breeders selling on the Facebook Marketplace or Nextdoor.
That 23ABC seller came out to say the puppies he sells have been dewormed and vaccinated, but Romero argues that you don’t know if this is true or if the procedure was followed properly.
“There’s nothing we can do to stop them right now, so my point of view is if you sell your pups please get them vaccinated so at least if they end up at the shelter they don’t get sick in a few months,” said Romero.
Romero said the best solution would be to make castration and neutering mandatory, as well as licenses and permits for people selling puppies, to better regulate the situation.
“Our shelters try not to kill, but how can they do that when they have dozens of dogs every day. Whether by design, then maybe we can gain a foothold and be more proactive rather than reactive, ”said Sundee Martineau, founder of Bakersfield Boxers and Bullies Rescue.
Martineau said there are many cities and counties in California that have spay and neutering, as well as breeding permit programs, where you can see the difference in shelter capacity.
In Kern County, Nick Cullen of the Kern County Animal Control Center said there are permit requirements that limit buying or breeding to one litter per year.
However, Martineau argues that this is not enough as they see no impact if the permit is not followed.
“The consequence, if you continue to breed your dogs without this permission, you have to be fined for it and you have to find a way to enforce that fine, because right now they are such that we can’t really enforce it,” said Martineau.
Martineau added that they have gone to the county and town to enact stricter regulations, noting that this does not mean that all dogs are spayed and neutered, but rather on a case-by-case basis in the hopes of breeding errors quit, and hoarding cases in our area.