The City Council’s wanting so as to add two new entries to the “banned in Boston” ledger: nips and guinea pigs.
Councilors launched two new gadgets that might — individually from one another — look to carry a listening to to discover the ban of miniature liquor bottles generally called “nips” and bar the sale of guinea pigs.
The nip order comes from City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo, the district councilor from Hyde Park — a neighborhood the place some locals have been waging warfare towards what they’ve stated are 1000’s of discarded nips.
“The data is clear that in cities that have banned the sale of nips there is a significant and positive impact on public health,” Arroyo stated in an announcement. “We should put the wellbeing of our communities first by banning the sale of nips in Boston as well.”
Nips are usually bought at liquor shops and, per Arroyo, usually can’t be recycled. The councilors stated that different native cities and cities together with Chelsea and Newton plus some areas of Cape Cod have nixed the sale of nips.
Arroyo cites a Commonwealth Magazine article that steered a correlation between Chelsea passing the rule in 2020 and the variety of alcohol-related ambulance calls dropping.
The listening to on this matter can be scheduled after the order is launched in Wednesday’s assembly.
Also being launched on Wednesday is an unrelated proposed ordinance change from City Councilor Liz Breadon that might ban the sale of guinea pigs from being bought at pet shops within the metropolis. In 2016, town banned the sale of canine, cats or rabbits besides from shelters or rescue organizations, and Breadon desires so as to add guinea pigs to that checklist.
“Boston-area shelters are experiencing a surge in guinea pig surrenders over previous years, with the MSPCA-Angell in July 2022 reporting that it received more than 210 guinea pigs and rabbits over a three month span,” Breadon wrote within the proposed ordinance change. She additionally posits that “a significant share of guinea pigs sold at pet shops come from large-scale, out-of-state commercial breeding facilities and brokers.”
She wrote that the nice guinea-pig give up of the previous few years is happening elsewhere, together with New York City, which has seen its inflow double. She wrote that the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has stated that 60% of guinea pigs surrendered right here got here from pet shops, and that the
Boston Animal Care and Control has reported consumption statistics for guinea pigs demonstrating important will increase 12 months over 12 months from 2020 via 2022, and Boston 311 information reveals a development in circumstances relating to guinea pigs since 2021; and WHEREAS, ; and WHEREAS, The MSPCA experiences that over 60% of its guinea pigs surrendered by homeowners have been initially acquired at pet shops, and that the size of time guinea pigs stay in shelters is sort of twice so long as cats and canine; and
It ought to be famous that this wouldn’t be a prohibition on the possession of a guinea pig inside metropolis limits — simply the sale of them from Boston pet shops. Same with the nip rule in idea — having nips isn’t unlawful, you simply couldn’t purchase them right here if such a rule have been to be handed.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”