The San Antonio City Council had presented the fact that only three out of 51 pet stores in the city sell dogs and cats. Now an ordinance that was approved with a vote 9 to 1 will require those store to only sell animals that came from an animal shelter or a registered animal rescue operation.

“Understand it was a controversial issue, but we are grateful to be able to move into the next phase to be able to improve the care of animals,” said the director Animal Care Services, Heber Lefgren.

This new ordinance will ban pet sales from breeders that are identified as “puppy mills” and will encourage adoption.

Violators who break the new ordinance that goes into effect on January 1, 2021 will be fined up to $500.

On another note, this doesn’t discourage breeders who utilize the internet to sell kittens and puppies as they’re still allowed to do so. This only affects the pet store owners which concerns citizens.