Animal activists, including one man dressed in a head-to-toe dog costume, cheered Tuesday night when Irvine City Council members banned the retail sale of cats and dogs.
The ordinance, which passed by a 4-1 vote with Councilman Jeffrey Lalloway dissenting, also bans rodeos and circuses featuring exotic animals, the Daily Pilot reported.
"It's just a win for animals all around," said Irvine resident Wendy Fears, a member of a small local group that helped organize support for the ban. "I'm just real proud of Irvine for standing up against animal abuse."
While Lalloway expressed disgust for those capable of animal cruelty, he worried that the proposed ordinance may move pet sales to the Internet and "import a pet problem rather than stop it."
"Today, tonight, we are here to deal with a problem that simply does not exist," Lalloway said. "We do not have any mass-breeding facilities here in Irvine. We have one pet store, Russo's, which will not be selling dogs and cats after next year."
In August, the Irvine Co., which owns the Irvine Spectrum where Russo's Pet Experience operates, announced that it would not renew the store's lease when it expires in October 2012.
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