Animal advocates pack county meeting, beg commissioners to ban pet sales at stores

COBB COUNTY, Ga - Animal advocates packed a meeting in Cobb County Tuesday night. The county is discussing a proposed ordinance that would ban the sale of dogs at pet stores.

Many at the meeting held signs with photos of dogs in crates. One woman's sign simply said, "Don't sell my puppies".

Most said retail sales of pets only encourages puppy mills.

Claudine Wilkins with The Animal Protection Society says their motto is "Adopt don't shop".

"There's a real problem with puppy mills in Georgia, people don't think we have them but we do.  This is part of the whole problem with pet overpopulation, people breeding for profit," said Wilkins.

One by one people took the podium begging the commissioners to enact a ban on pet sales. The meeting went well past 11 p.m..

This is the first public comment before the board. There will be another meeting next week where people will have a chance to voice their concerns.  Commissioners say they will take everything into consideration before making a decision.