A New Approach to Ending Pet Overpopulation
Creating laws that are viable and actually enforceable is the core mission of Fair Pet Foundation. FairPetFoundation.org proposes a new, enforceable regulation designed to effectively—and simply—restrict or eliminate backyard breeders and online puppy scams. This legislation will directly result in increased lifesaving adoptions from shelters and a measurable reduction in homeless pets.
Ask yourself:
How many laws have shelters, rescuers, politicians, and taxpayers all agreed on?
None.
With this proposal, everyone but backyard breeders, puppy mills, and scammers could finally be on the same side. That’s a historic opportunity to end pet overpopulation through enforceable reform.
Why Current Animal Welfare Laws Fail
History has shown what approaches have been tried—and failed. To solve the problem, we must first understand what created the crisis. Across the nation, too many animal shelters are struggling and in urgent need of reform. City and county governments often continue to support failing facilities blindly, without accountability or modern solutions.
Most existing animal welfare laws—covering licensing, spay/neuter requirements, breeding limits, and pet ownership caps—are unenforced or unenforceable.
Even one of the few laws that “worked”—the banning of retail puppy stores—created an unintended consequence:
With stores closed, backyard breeders, puppy mills, and scammers flooded the internet.
Today, there are an estimated 10–15 million “pets for sale” ads every year.
These sellers use SEO, analytics, and paid advertising to reach buyers through
Google, Craigslist, and hundreds of unregulated online marketplaces. The Shelter System Is Losing Ground Municipal shelters are overwhelmed, underfunded, and often outdated.
Adoptions are declining, euthanasia rates are rising, and volunteers are being limited or dismissed.
How can shelters that are understaffed and using decades-old systems compete with the global reach of online puppy sellers?
They can’t.
Meanwhile, major platforms—Google, Facebook, Craigslist, YouTube, and
Instagram—along with hundreds of puppy-selling websites, are fueling this nationwide crisis of overbreeding and abandonment.
The Enforcement Gap
Even well-meaning laws accomplish nothing if they can’t be enforced. And we cannot rely on every Animal Control Officer to focus on enforcement—they often lack time, resources, or direction.
Every failing shelter has unique problems requiring unique solutions.
No one-size-fits-all law can fix that.Until we close the enforcement gap, well-intentioned animal welfare laws will continue to go unenforced, while the overpopulation problem grows worse each year.
It’s Time for a New, Enforceable Solution
There are viable, humane, and immediately effective actions available today. Not “pie in the sky” theories—real, enforceable reform.
By controlling or eliminating the online advertising of “puppies for sale,” we can:
• Humanely reduce animal shelter intake
• Decrease euthanasia rates
• Stop backyard breeders and puppy scams at their source
• Save thousands of lives each year
That’s the power of enforceable change.
Learn more and support real reform at FairPetFoundation.org
