New law targets "breeder" roadside animal sales in the RGV

EDINBURG, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Animal advocates are voicing their concerns over roadside animal sales across the state, and a law set to take effect in September aims to crack down on these types of operations.

They argue that roadside animal sales are not only unethical but also unhealthy, and this new law could finally bring change.

Rebecca Chavez, with Yaqui Animal Rescue, helped write House Bill 2731 sponsored by State Representative Sergio Munoz. She says this will prevent the unnecessary shopping for these animals as well.

“We call them impulse buys, so you are driving the street and you see an animal and you are thinking, oh my God I like it and it's so cute, so you purchase this animal without really contemplating or considering the world that comes to take care of an animal," said Chavez.

It aims to regulate the sale of animals on a public highway or road. This would be done by amending the section of the transportation code in Texas law that relates to county regulation of roadside vendors and solicitors.

Chavez says this is necessary because of the bad conditions these breeders have for their animals.

“Sometimes they have more than four or five breeding females, and that is their livelihood. They are constantly breeding these females to the point where they are unable to walk, and their uterus becomes infected. These animals are just treated like a mill," Chavez said.

Chavez also got help from Donna Independent School District, high school students Kate Montiel, Isabella Arevalo, and Samara Patino, who began lobbying against animal cruelty in Austin last year.

They saw these roadside sales almost daily as they went to school.

“Like just passing through our school, and we knew that a lot of those dogs would end up in the shelter one day," Montiel said. "And we usually see it often, how a lot of those dogs come home when they get parvo, and a lot of those people who buy those dogs end up having to pay a lot of vet bills.”

Chavez says that these animals can also carry diseases that can infect humans, and these sellers are found everywhere from Mission to Alton, the state highway, and even in front of La Plaza Mall in McAllen.

Katie Fine with Best Friends Animal Society says the bill aims to regulate, as a complete ban is difficult.

“In the Rio Grande Valley, inevitably, some of them are coming from across the border, and so that's something that we will never be able to, you know, enforce shutting down breeders from over those types of boundaries, but by better regulating them. It forces them to be more transparent with their buyers," Fine said.

She says this will help make the process more transparent.

“They can't be returned to that breeder. Because that breeder can't be found, they end up in our shelters," Fine said. "And so these taxpayer-funded shelters take the burden of, you know of these breeders."

The goal is to improve breeding conditions or shut them down. Starting in September, county officials in Hidalgo, Cameron, Webb, and El Paso will begin crafting ordinances to enforce the new law.

“I think it just depends on the county and the fine they want to enforce and then usually counties will regulate it based on the number of animals being sold when one is on the roadway selling 20 puppies and of course the fine will probably increase in oppose to somebody selling one or two," Chavez said.

The penalties are expected to become a Class C misdemeanor for these violators.