Tattooing, Piercing Pets Is About to Be Illegal in New York State
(via @mistahmetro7/Instagram)
So much for the matching tattoo you were planning to get with your dog: Andrew Cuomo is expected to sign bill that would ban the practice of tattooing or piercing pets into law on Monday evening. The legislation was introduced in 2011 by Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal after she saw a story online about “gothic kittens” with pierced ears and necks. The bill gained steam thanks to the controversy over a Brooklyn tattoo artist, known as Mistah Metro, posted an Instagram photo of the ink that he gave his pet dog while the pup was under for a spleen-removal procedure. At the time, Metro worked at Prospect Heights tattoo parlor Red Legged Devil.
The anti-piercing law was one of many pieces of legislature awaiting attention from Cuomo, but, according to the Daily News, the governor will add his support to it later today. “This is animal abuse, pure and simple,” Cuomo told the News. “I’m proud to sign this common-sense legislation and outlaw these cruel and unacceptable practices once and for all in New York.”
The exceptions to the law include tattooing pets for identification purposes and piercings for medical purposes.
