ORLANDO, Fla. — Pet stores across Orange County will soon have to stop selling dogs, cats and rabbits.

Orange County commissioners voted 4–3 for the new ordinance after hearing from dozens of people for and against it at a packed public hearing.  

Lisa Franchina said she’s loved pets ever since her parents brought home a dog when she was little. 

“I’m a big animal lover and advocate,” she said.

She’s worked for years through the Humane Society of the United States, as a board member with Orange County Animals Services and as a shelter volunteer.

Franchina said pet stores get their animals from dog breeders that don’t treat them humanely.

“At the shelter we get dogs that — we call them throw-away mommas — their teats are dragging the ground,” she said. “They’ve been bred like farm animals and thrown away.”

Dozens of people supporting the ban showed up to the public hearing wearing light green shirts.

So did dozens of people in red shirts — many from local pet stores — to voice their opposition.

Mike Gonidakis is with Citizens for Responsible Pet Ownership, and represents several local pet stores. He said he supports strong breeder laws and animal welfare legislation, but believes if the sale of the animals is banned consumers and the animals will suffer.

“If you close every pet store, someone’s still going to want a pure-bred English bulldog, a pure-bred lab,” he said. “The only place they’re going to have to go now is the internet, a Walmart parking lot, a flea market — there’s no consumer protections, there’s no health warranties, there’s no vet checks, there’s no nothing.”

And he said it will drive the pet stores impacted by a ban out of business.

“Pet stores that sell puppies — it’s the No. 1 item they sell in their stores — it makes up about 70 to 80% of their revenue,” said Gonidakis. “If they can’t sell their pets, they can’t survive on dried goods.”

But Franchina believes there’s a better way.

“The other large chains — Petco, Pet Supermarket and PetSmart — do a thriving business without exploiting these animals, and I think that’s the model we need to adopt here in Orange County,” she said.​

The proposed ban in Orange County comes just a year after Attorney General Ashely Moody filed a complaint against an Orlando pet store for allegedly selling sick and dying puppies, calling it “both immoral and illegal.”

“It is reprehensible that the defendants would exploit the trust of new pet owners to make a profit while risking the health and safety of these puppies,” Moody said.

Two pieces of state legislation were proposed last year that would require pet stores to be licensed on a state level and regulate the sale of pets. Neither bill moved forward.