In our editorial today, we looked positively on ordinances that will prohibit the selling, giving away or bartering of animals on public space.

In the 1989 Michael Moore documentary "Roger & Me," a woman sells her rabbits for "pets or meat." She shows Moore how she clubs to death the cuddly bunnies, unless a person buys them to keep as pets. Moore focuses on the pets-or-meat woman to tell the story of desperation in Flint, Mich., a community impoverished by the auto industry's ups and downs.

The people who stand in retail store parking lots and on street corners selling puppies and giving away kittens tell a story, too, about Spokane. It's a story that animal advocates hope is changing with enactment of an ordinance making it illegal to sell, give or barter away animals in public spaces anywhere in Spokane County.

So a question: Have you ever purchased a puppy or kitten in front of a grocery store or another public-like space? And how did the pet work out for you?

Blog lines are open.

(Brian Plonka photo/The Spokesman-Review)

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