If HB25-1180 passes, do not ask someone to hold your pet animal in public. On Wednesday, March 5, upon adjournment of the House, in HCR 0112, the Colorado House Business Affairs & Labor Committee is scheduled to hear a bill that is titled, prohibiting pet animal sales in public spaces.
But HB25-1180 is more than just sales in public spaces. If you read the bill, it actually prohibits a person or entity from not only selling, but delivering, offering or advertising for sale or adoption, bartering, auctioning, giving away, leasing, or otherwise transferring any pet animal at or on any public street, highway, right-of-way, parkway, median strip, park, recreation area, outdoor market, parking lot, or other public space.
Per Colorado law, “pet animal” is defined as dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, mice, rats, gerbils, ferrets, birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates, or any other species of wild or domestic or hybrid animal sold, transferred, or retained for the purpose of being kept as a household pet. It only exempts animals that are used for working purposes on a farm or ranch.
This bill is so broadly written that asking someone to hold your dog at the dog park or returning a dog that got loose would be a Class 2 misdemeanor with a maximum sentence of 18 months in jail, or a $5,000 fine, or both. No more meeting a breeder at a halfway point at a rest stop or parking lot or at a field trial to pick up your new puppy.
Use the Take Action button to email the committee. Urge them to support sportsmen and vote “No” on HB25-1180. This is exactly the type of bill animal extremists like to use as stepping stone to crater our heritage and definitely opposed by sportsmen across the state.
There has never been a more important time in sportsmen’s history than now to be involved and engaged in protecting our way of life. The extremists are working tirelessly to destroy our rights, values and lifestyle, and we must work harder to ensure they are secure today, tomorrow and for the future. Ask your family, friends, and fellow sportsmen to join the fight with you and the Sportsmen’s Alliance.
The Sportsmen’s Alliance guarantees hunting, fishing and trapping for the American sportsman now and forever. We’re there when sportsmen need us most. We are the only organization specifically created to protect the individual hunter, angler and trapper – no matter the threat. We will never compromise when it comes to defending our way of life in the courts, in the legislatures, in the public square and at the ballot box. We make this promise to the American sportsman: we will never give up and never give in while proudly securing our future against those seeking to destroy our values, beliefs, and traditions. Stay connected to Sportsmen’s Alliance: Online, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
