Beverly Hills City Council passed an ordinance prohibiting pet stores from selling companion animals from inhumane breeding mills on Aug. 18. The ordinance requires pet stores within Beverly Hills to exclusively offer dogs, cats and rabbits from shelters or rescue groups, joining over 80 communities in North America that have enacted similar ordinances to ban the retail sale of milled pets.

An adoptable dog interacts with a customer at the Pussy and Pooch Lifestyle Center in Beverly Hills. (photo courtesy of Best Friends Animal Society)

Best Friends Animal Society’s efforts to support the ordinance trace back to 2007 when the organization spearheaded a series a peaceful protests in front of Posh Puppy, a puppy mill supplied store in Beverly Hills. The goal was to raise awareness about puppy mills, where dogs are kept in deplorable and inhumane conditions to produce puppies for the retail pet trade.

Stores like the Pussy and Pooch Pet Lifestyle Center are leading the way to demonstrate a model that’s an asset to the community, according to Elizabeth Oreck, Best Friends Animal Society’s national manager of puppy mill initiatives.