The Colorado House and a Senate committee have , which would ban the sale of dogs and cats in pet stores. Supporters hope that the bill, which is similar to ordinances in Denver, Fort Collins, Aurora, and other local jurisdictions, will prevent the sale of puppies bred by unscrupulous puppy mills where dogs and cats are confined in tiny cages bearing one litter after another.
The bill is now being considered on the Senate floor and would still allow buyers to purchase pets directly from breeders or adopt them from rescues and shelters. Pet stores could provide free space for adoption organizations to showcase their adoptable animals.
Encouraging people to adopt rather than shop is a laudable goal, and Colorado is home to a number of exceptional shelters and rescue organizations that help animals and humans.
Humane Colorado, formerly the Dumb Friends League, provides affordable veterinary care at its CSU Spur location. When a friend鈥檚 dog needed surgery this month to remove a cancerous tumor, I knew just where they should turn.
I had brought a stray kitten there several years ago. I was underwater financially, and the kitten, Spicy Moustache, so named for the attitude and little dark mark above her upper lip, was in worse shape. Skin and bones after being abandoned on a country road, she needed vet care and Humane Colorado was there for us both. Moustache joined my plump tortoiseshell Toffee, the progeny of frisky barn cats, an elderly rabbit rescued from neglect, and my best friend Bacon, a good dog adopted from Lifeline Puppy Rescue years before.
Humane Colorado turns 116 years old this year. This wonderful organization was originally named Dumb Friends League to denote support for four-legged friends who cannot speak for themselves. As the meaning of the word 鈥渄umb鈥� shifted over the century, the organization needed to find another name to capture its mission. With four adoption locations, three of which are outside of Denver, and one vet care facility at the innovative CSU Spur campus, the name Humane Colorado fits its broader mission.
Humane Colorado isn鈥檛 the only organization to change its name to reflect an expanded vision. As of this month, the 38-year-old Max Fund is now True Companions Animal Shelter & Clinic. This shelter found a placement for my friend鈥檚 puppy, whose destructive separation anxiety was more than she, a recent widow, could handle. He went to live with a couple whose kids and dogs gave him the constant company he needed to thrive.
Other shelters, municipal pounds, and animal rescue organizations need people to adopt and people who can be a way station for pets on their way to permanent homes. Fostering Mocha, an adorable pit-Catahoula hound mix, and helping her find her fur-ever home through Karl鈥檚 Canine Krew was one of my best experiences of 2025.
If puppies and kittens are no longer available in pet stores and more Coloradans turn to adoption agencies and rescues to adopt dogs and cats, more lives will be saved. If puppy mills can no longer supply Colorado pet stores, the loss of revenue could drive them out of business. If, however, pet buyers turn to unscrupulous breeders accessed through the internet, dogs and cats will be worse off.
Current law requires pet stores to provide the name of the breeder, state, and federal or state license numbers. This requirement ensures at least some oversight and minimal standards for breeders selling to pet stores, but it does not apply to breeders meeting buyers at the Walmart parking lot on the Nebraska border.
To ensure the law will not have unintended consequences, there are a few questions that should be answered at the hearing: If the law passes, will those seeking certain dog or cat breeds turn to unscrupulous breeders accessed over the internet? Are there large-scale breeders that treat their breeding dogs and cats and puppies and kittens humanely, and how will they be impacted by the law? How will pet stores that work with ethical breeders be impacted? If they shut down, will unscrupulous breeders simply get more business?
Is there a more direct way to close down puppy mills using anti-abuse or breeder licensure laws?
Krista Kafer is a Sunday Denver Post columnist.
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